Against All Odds
by Rizu Neko-Chan
Summary: After countless failures, rejections, and all humiliation of the sort, Kisshu came to realize that maybe his methods of "getting the girl" weren't always perfect. Will that stop him? Not a chance. One-sided KxI
1. Preface

(A.N./ And here we are, at the start of a new story! This one won't be QUITE as long as my hit Pencil's Black, but it won't be a one-shot, let me say that much. I plan this one to have at least eight chapters, each being about one-shot-sized. Good thing is, I'm typing all of the chapters ahead of time, so this story is officially labeled 'stress free'. Now, enough of my mindless blabbering, to the story!)

--

-Preface-

--

HTTP 404 Error: Server Not Found

Pai blew a violet hair out of his face as he attempted to re-establish the internet connection for the fourteenth time that day. Currently he was attempting to increase the range and piggyback on the Wi-Fi signal of a local Earth internet café. Even after cracking the security code and magnifying the signal's range, it was still rather difficult to receive an internet connection from an alternate dimension.

No matter, though, because he was at a breaking point of an ingenious plan. He would use the humans' "internet" to discover their weakness to their own sun. But, first, he would have to discover exactly how vulnerable they were…

Signal Strength: Poor

"Pai-cha-a-a-a-an!"

An anime pulsing vein appeared on Pai's head. Exactly the _last _person he wanted to see at that moment elbowed him roughly and eyed him with his piercing golden eyes,

"Oi, Pai. Loosen up from your work for once and answer a question for me." Pai rolled his eyes and replied sarcastically,

"What is it you want, _oh annoying one_."

"That's Taruto's nickname!"

"Kisshu, don't waste any more of my time than you already have."

"Fine, fine…" Kish said, "Just tell me something. You like Mew Lettuce, right?"

"No." Pai said flatly. Kisshu raised an eyebrow,

"Didn't think so. But yet, it's totally obvious she likes you. She's always giving you these looks, and she's constantly avoiding fighting you..." He said, making various gestures with his hands as he spoke. Pai opened his mouth to argue, but Kish cut him off, "- so what would she have to do to gain your interest?"

Pai thought for a few moments before replying,

"Well, she would probably display unusual signs of affection directly to me, and…" his voice trailed off as he glared down at Kisshu, who seemed to be listening intently, "This has something to do with the Mew leader, doesn't it?"

"Her name is Ichigo, and…well…" He averted his eyes to the floor as he tried to make up some kind of excuse on the spot. It was like catching the kid who had their hand in the cookie jar. Pai closed his eyes and shook his head, massaging the skin on the bridge of his nose,

_Not **this** argument again._

"Look, Kisshu, just give up. It's bad for the mission, bad for your health, and, for Kami's sake, she doesn't even **like** you!"

"Yeah, but I love her." Pai's face stiffened at the word 'love',

"Correction, you lust after her. You don't actually care about her, you just want her. She's your toy, you said so yourself, remember?"

"That was nearly a year ago, and, yes, I do care!" Kish's voice oozed with defiance, it shone in his eyes as he whirled around, turning his back to Pai. Raising his hand as to teleport, he turned his head briefly and stated,

"I'll prove it to you. Actually, I'll prove it to her too. Don't worry, you'll see." With that, he teleported off.

Pai sighed and turned back to his work, staring idly at the research displayed before him on his monitor.

_I swear, his arrogance will be the death of him someday. _

--

Touching down on the concrete rooftop of one of Tokyo's many skyscrapers, Kisshu gazed out onto the sunrise, muttering discreetly to himself,

"Oh yes, I'll prove it. I really do care." He ran a hand through his forest green hair, feeling the morning breeze on his face,

"But, first, to find Mew Pudding."

--

(A.N./ Yes, this chapter is really short, but you can't really call it a 'chapter' per se, it's a preface, not a chapter. So there. At any rate, see you next chapter! Ja ne!)


	2. Plan A: Trickery

(A.N./ Chapter one, everyone! Hey, that rhymed! Anyways, I'm releasing this one early after the last because the preface isn't really enough to chew on for the wait for the next chapter. From now on, though, im releasing chapters every other day or three days. Hope you enjoy!)

--

"Could I please have a volunteer from the audience, na do da!" Purin called out to the crowd assembled before her. She was currently performing one of her public shows, this one being conveniently located in the center of a popular city park. When she didn't work at Café Mew Mew, she found performing was a fun and exercising way to earn money.

A small boy who looked about six came out of the crowd, waving his hand around wildly,

"Me! Me! I will!" His mother followed him close behind, her appearance of a trim businesswoman,

"Honey, please, don't-" she glanced up at Purin, "Please excuse my son. I'd rather not have him on stage." Pudding smiled,

"I completely understand ma'am." Pudding said, bowing respectively. Giving one more look at Purin, she scurried off with her son, gripping his hand tightly.

"Could I have another volunteer, na do da?" There was an awkward silence in the crowd, the occasional cough and shifting of feet adding to the strange atmosphere. Inevitably, no one wanted to have their life put in the hands of a nine-year-old street performer. Suddenly, a voice came from the crowd,

"I'll do it."

The crowd shifted to give way to the brave volunteer. He stepped onto the platform Purin was performing on. Purin blinked as he approached, and whispered to him,

"Kisshu-kun, na do da? What are you doing here, na do da?" Kisshu was dressed in a black beanie to hide his ears, and had gelled his hair slightly to make it look like normal length. He was dressed in completely regular human clothes too. Altogether, Purin had barely recognized him if it wasn't for his bright, golden, and cat-like eyes.

"I'm here to help you with your show of course." he said casually. Purin grinned,

"Yay, na do da!" she spoke in a low tone, her voice becoming dead serious, "Now, I need you to get behind the curtain that I have set up, and then teleport to behind the crowd, but look surprised, na do da.. Can you do that, na do da?"

"Sure can." Kisshu said. Purin resumed her grin, turning to the crowd,

"Alright, na do da! For this next trick, I'm going to make this average civilian be magically teleported to somewhere else from behind this curtain, na do da!" she gestured dramatically to the starry-patterned, velvet curtain behind her. Kisshu stepped behind the curtain, waiting for Purin's cue.

"Alrighty, na do da! Here we go, na do da! One, two, three, na do da!" Kisshu teleported from behind the curtain to behind the crowd. A few of the spectators in the back turned around when they felt him appear, but the rest turned to look at him when Purin announced,

"There he is now, na do da! Ta da, na do da!" Kisshu put on a surprised face and pretended to look around himself, as though he was checking to see if any part of him was unattached. The crowd cheered as Purin announced,

"Now, watch as I attempt to jump through this flaming hoop backwards, na do da!" Kisshu sighed and sat down on an unoccupied park bench to wait.

_This will be a __**long**__ day._

_--_

Four hours later Purin was finally dismissing the audience.

"Thank you, na do da! You've been a great audience, na do da!" The crowd thinned out until it was entirely dismissed. Kisshu took the opportunity and approached the stage where Purin was packing up her things.

"You want any help carrying things?" Purin's face brightened up,

"Sure, na do da! Thank you, na do da!" Kisshu picked up a large box Purin had just sealed up, and Purin took her disassembled curtain prop. Kisshu hauled the box up to find it was really heavy.

"What do you pack in here, bowling balls?!" he grunted.

"Actually, there is a bowling ball balancing act, na do da." _Great…_Kisshu muttered under his breath. He stepped off the platform, following Purin as they began the trek to her home.

About halfway there, Purin stopped and turned to look at Kisshu,

"Kisshu-kun, why are you being so nice, na do da? Do you **like** Purin-san, na do da?" Kisshu rolled his eyes inwardly, though he kept a straight grin,

"No, I'd actually like to ask you a favor." Purin nodded vigorously,

"Go on, na do da!"

"We're going to play a game, okay?" Purin nodded, eyes getting wider, "In this game, we're going to pretend we want Ichigo and Masaya to break up, so I need you to tell Ichigo to break up with Masaya." Purin eyed him suspiciously,

"Purin-chan isn't that dumb, na do da." Kisshu bit his lip. _I'm caught_. He though nervously, _Now what?_ But Purin continued, "I'm not doing it without some kind of payment, na do da!" Kisshu thought for a moment before saying,

"How about I help you with a full day of performing, then I take you out to get ice cream?" Purin's eyes got wider and she clapped her hands in excitement,

"Yay, na do da! Like a date, na do da!" Kisshu shifted his eyes in the other direction,

"Uh, yeah!"

"But," Purin said, "I don't want you going on a date with me, I want Taru-Taru, na do da!" Kisshu nodded, _That's even better, I can push Taruto into doing it fairly well, and it's better than her dragging me around._

"Sure, that sounds good. But first, you have to do what I say, okay?" Purin nodded happily,

"Okay, na do da!"

"…and you can't tell anyone I told you to do it, okay?"

"Got it, na do da!"

--

Ichigo was almost finished scrubbing off the last of her tables. Today had been a very busy work day, it being a Sunday, the busiest day of the week for Café Mew Mew and its waitresses.

"I'm beat!" she said wearily as she slumped into one of the chairs. Minto sipped her tea from the other side of the room,

"You complain too much." she said daintily, fixing an accusing glare at Ichigo over her teacup. Ichigo just sighed and slumped in the chair some more, quite used to Minto's accusations.

"Ichigo-san, na do da!" Purin called loudly. Ichigo shot up from her chair, fighting to hide her cat ears and tail out of pure habit,

"Yes, Purin-san?" she answered sweetly. Purin shifted her eyes to the floor and shifted her feet,

"Purin-san thinks Ichigo-san should break up with Masaya-san, na do da." Ichigo's eyes got wider and she leaned forward as Purin continued, "Masaya-san doesn't seem compatible with Ichigo-san, and Purin-san thinks Ichigo-san could do better, na do da." Ichigo pinched the skin on the bridge of her nose,

"Purin-san? Who told you to say that?" Purin hesitantly replied,

"I'm not supposed to tell, na do da."

All suspicions cleared out of Ichigo's mind when she got the reply. Just to make sure, though, she asked,

"Purin-san? Was it Kisshu?" Purin's feet shifted again and she rolled her eyes,

"Maybe, na do da…" Ichigo let out a sigh,

"Hold on a moment, Purin." She got up from her chair and walked over to the back room, where she collected a piece of paper and a pen, and began to write.

About ten minutes later she finished the final signature. She was about to seal the letter in the envelope when an idea dawned on her. She smirked evilly and reached for her makeup kit in her bag…

When she came back, she saw Purin waiting in her chair patiently, staring into blank space. She walked over and handed the letter to her,

"I know you can't tell me who the person is, but could you give this to them, please?" Purin nodded,

"Yup, na do da!"

"Thank you, Purin-chan!"

--

The next day, Kisshu was patiently waiting outside Purin's house for her reply. After quite a bit of forceful negotiating with Taruto, he was really hoping for positive results. Purin marched out of the house to her work at Café Mew Mew. Kisshu made himself known,

"Hi, Purin-san!" Purin looked up to see him sitting on her roof,

"Hello, Kisshu-san, na do da!" she said cheerily.

"How did it go?" he asked. Purin took a bit to think before saying,

"Oh yeah, na do da! It was good, na do da!"

"What did she say?"

"Not much, but she gave me this letter and said to give it to you!" Kisshu flew down and accepted the letter Purin handed him. He turned it over to see it had a bright red lipstick mark on the seal. He smirked with delight,

"Well done, Purin-san! I'll tell Taruto to wait for you at the park!" Purin grinned,

"Thank you, na do da!" With that, she skipped off happily towards the park.

After a long session with convincing Taruto to go with Purin once again, Kisshu sat down on one of the stone pillars in his dimension and opened the letter, being careful to preserve the seal. He unfolded it and began to read, his face falling with every word,

_Dear Heartless Jerk,_

_HOW DARE, I repeat, __**how DARE **__you take advantage of Purin like that! She's only nine, for pete's sake, using your superior (barely) intellect to make her do your dirty work is absolutely cruel! Like I'd ever fall for that in the first place, your plan is terribly worked out, I could tell by a few words from Purin that you had bribed her! What did you do, promise her ice cream?! You are the __**WORST**__._

_-Much hate,_

_Ichigo_

_--_


	3. Plan B: Charm

(A.N./ And we're back with chapter two! Enjoy!)

--

As anyone who has watched or read Tokyo Mew Mew already knows, it takes a lot more that one rejection from Ichigo to get Kish to give up. In fact, he must've been rejected dozens of times, yet he's still at it. So here we find him, situated on top of one of the stone pillars in his dimension, coming up with another one of his "marvelous" plans.

But alas, the more and more he thought, the more and more he realized that nothing was coming to him that day. He just couldn't muster up a plan or strategy that he could mentally stamp "foolproof".

Something snapped to his mind at that moment. Why come up with some brilliant strategy when you can resort to a classic? All he had to do was rely on an older plan of his, and that would do, not to mention work in a better way to separate Ichigo and the tree-hugger.

Because, honestly, how hard can stealing kisses get?

--

Ichigo had just had a wonderful dream.

In it, she was on a huge, wooden stage in front of a gigantic crowd. At first, in her dream, she felt nervous and scared. But then the people started cheering for her. She looked over herself to find she was wearing bell-bottomed, bubblegum-pink jeans and a studded black belt. She had on a white, horizontally-striped t-shirt, and a small, black denim fashion vest over it. She had her hair up in two thick pigtails, tied with long, white ribbons. She looked herself over again, admiring her costume.

Suddenly an electric guitar appeared in her hands. She stared at it strangely before realizing she knew all of the notes she would play. The music started up behind her, and she took a deep breath.

At the breaking point of the music, she started in with her guitar. She found she was playing it perfectly without any kind of hesitation at all. The crowd before her roared and cheered. She never felt so accomplished in her life!

Then, she woke up. But…she didn't bother to open her eyes. She just laid in bed, dozily recalling her wonderful dream to herself. She pulled her covers up to her face, fingering the warm fabric lightly.

"Good morning, neko-chan!" The pesky voice of her alien stalker reached her ears like a shrill whistle in dead silence. She shot up in bed to come face-to-face with none other than Kisshu. She did the first thing that came to her mind.

She screamed.

"**Eeeeeeeek! ****Get OUT of MY ROOM!**" Kish jumped back about five feet. Pounding up the stairs outside Ichigo's doorway was heard,

"Ichigo?! What was that, is someone in your room?" Kisshu realized it was Ichigo's dad and quickly teleported out of the room, but not before giving Ichigo a quick kiss on the cheek. Ichigo reached out to slap him, but he got away too fast, so her hand was left at an awkward position stretched out before her. Her dad just about blew down the door storming in,

"Ichigo?! Was someone-" Ichigo was quick to respond,

"No, dad, I just had a bad dream, that's all." Ichigo's dad eyed her strangely,

"You dreams about people in your room?!" Ichigo shifted her eyes,

"No, actually, I was dreaming I had this giant, hairy spider in my room, and it was crawling all over my bed!"_ In truth, I'm not lying. There was a giant hairy spider on my bed named Kisshu._ Ichigo thought to herself.

"Alright then," Ichigo's dad said, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "I'm going to make breakfast, now that I'm already up." Ichigo nodded,

"Thanks, Dad. Could you make me some toast, please?" He nodded,

"Sure, anything for my sweet little girl!" with that, he marched off humming a tune down the stairs. Ichigo sighed and wiped her brow,

_That was a close call. Kisshu had better watch when he-_ she happened to glance at her clock on her bed stand.

"**5:49?!**" she yelled in spite of herself. She quickly silenced herself and crawled, groaning, out of her bed.

_At least I'm not going to be late for my date with Masaya again…_

--

"I can't believe I'm late for my date with Masaya AGAIN!" Ichigo yelled to herself as she sprinted down Tokyo's busy sidewalks, bumping into pedestrians and shoving through crowds.

Of course, what do you expect from Ichigo, who's never made it to a date on time. Meanwhile, directly above her, our favorite cocky alien was watching her from the rooftops above, taking extra precaution not to be seen by the people below.

"A date, huh?"

Ichigo approached the entrance of the movie theatre Masaya was meeting her at. She combed through the crowd with her eyes, searching for Masaya. She didn't have to look long to see him coming towards her out of the crowd,

"Ichigo! You're just in time! It's about to start!"

"I'm really super sorry I'm late, Masaya!" she said. He took her hand and led her through the crowd,

"It's fine, don't apologize!" She smiled, _He's so forgiving…_

Once inside the theatre, Masaya set down the popcorn bowl on his lap. The theatre seats around them were rather vacant, only a few other couples dotted the seats.

"What movie is this again?" Ichigo whispered as the opening credits were rolling.

"I think it's American, I'm not sure." he replied. With that, he turned his head back to the screen, "Excuse me for a moment." He got up from his seat and walked down the aisle, exiting the theatre. Ichigo sunk into the chair and and reached for some popcorn, only to find a hand already in it. Her eyes slowly trailed up it to barely make out a teenager in the dark of the theatre, but it wasn't just any teenager. A normal teen wouldn't have blazing gold eyes.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed in disgust. Kisshu grinned cockily,

"Just to wanted to have a little fun with Koneko-chan!" Ichigo made a disgusted face at his attitude. Kish grinned and leaned forward, giving her a light kiss on the cheek. Ichigo lashed out with her palm…

…and struck.

**SLAP! **Half of the audience turned at the loud noise. Kisshu was left to sit back and sulk in his seat, now imprinted with a red handprint on his cheek. Ichigo turned around and watched the credits, a straight scowl on her face. Masaya re-entered the theatre about two minutes later, taking his place in the seat next to her. Ichigo wiped the scowl off her face and resumed a perky smile. The movie was beginning to start.

The opening sequence was a pretty young girl walking down a sidewalk on a snowy night. She was carrying a load of packages with her, tied up with ribbons and wrapping paper for the Christmas season. As she went along, she crashed into somebody running on the sidewalk. She toppled over and spilled all of the parcels onto the snowy walkway. She stooped to pick them up, tears forming in her eyes,

"I'm sorry sir, I-"

"I'm so sorry, ma'am! Did I damage anything?" the stranger helped the girl pick up her packages, one by one. He had honey-blonde hair and striking green eyes. At last, the last parcel was back in her arms.

"Thank you so much sir!"

"My pleasure, miss!" he winked at her and kept walking down the street. She blushed and scurried in the other direction.

Masaya chose this to be the perfect time to hold Ichigo's hand. She blushed and gripped it tighter. Kisshu growled under his breath. Something had to be done about Masaya if he were to get to her. His last break-up strategy hadn't worked, so now what?

_Whatever it is,_ he thought to himself, _I'm going to make this date living heck for the tree-hugger._

The next scene consisted of the man casually walking down the sidewalk, it still being the snowy weather. Kisshu blew a hair out of his face.

_This movie is boring and slow. Why couldn't they have gone to at least an __**interesting**__ movie?!_

Nevertheless, if he was to succeed, he would have to sit through whatever Ichigo and Masaya were sitting through, no matter how boring it was.

Kisshu made out in the dark that Masaya was passing Ichigo the popcorn bowl. When she was about to grab it, Kisshu made his move. He sent a small blue spark out of his hand to Masaya's palm, causing him to spill the popcorn all over Ichigo's skirt.

"I'm so sorry!" he apologized in a low whisper. He collected the popcorn bowl and found that it was all but a few kernels spilt. Ichigo shook her head,

"Don't worry, it was an accident! I don't mind. Popcorn's really bad for you anyways." she giggled and turned her head back to the movie. Masaya smiled and also focused on the screen. Kisshu scowled and sunk back into his seat once more. Plan failed. Back to the drawing board.

Ichigo glanced away from the movie for a few moments to open her handbag. Taking out a pen, she scribbled something down on a napkin. She replaced the pen and slid the handbag back down to next to her feet. Kisshu immediately got the hint when she casually slid the napkin into her seat cup holder. He leaned forward and grabbed it. Ichigo gave him a angered face before turning back to the screen. Kisshu, having better sight abilities than humans, was able to read the note clearly,

'_I saw the blue spark, you jerk. Stay away from Masaya or you'll regret it.'_

Kisshu read it over a few more times while coming up with a new strategy.

_Sorry, Koneko-chan, but something has to be done about your boyfriend. _

Ichigo stood from her theatre chair and whispered something to Masaya before she exited the row and the theatre. Kisshu took this as a brilliant opportunity to make some noise.

He spotted Masaya lifting his extra large soda to take a sip. _Hm, that's perfect._ he thought. He carefully shifted position in his seat, crouching almost level with the floor and aiming upwards, to the bottom of the cup. Taking care to aim in the right direction, he fired another small strike of blue energy. It hit right on target, bursting the bottom of the cup. Soda spilled all over Masaya, soaking his pants and lower shirt completely. He looked around the cup, hoping to find some evidence to what happened, but there was none. Slowly he got up from the chair and made his way down to the men's room, receiving stares from customers and employees alike.

_Phase one, completed._ Kisshu thought to himself.

About a minute later, Ichigo entered the movie theatre and moved to her seat to discover Masaya wasn't there. She turned to see that, much to her dismay, Kisshu still was.

"What did you do to him?!" she hissed. Kisshu shrugged,

"Don't look at me, honey, he spilled soda on himself." Ichigo glanced down to his seat to see it was completely soaked in soda. She glared back at him,

"I said, what did you do?!" Kisshu shrugged and leaned closer to her,

"I guess he's just not too graceful, that's all." He leaned in inches from her face before Ichigo's cat ears popped out. She struggled to keep them down, occupying both of her hands, meanwhile, Kisshu grabbed her chin and was leaning closer and closer to her. Suddenly he spotted Masaya returning out of the corner of his eye. He was able to steal a quick kiss before slumping back in his seat. Ichigo turned a radish red but quickly shook it off as she warned Masaya of his soaking seat.

Kisshu smirked and put his hands behind his head in satisfaction, licking his lips,

_Phase two, completed._

Peace reigned in the movie theatre up until around the last part of the film. The young couple in the film both had realized their love for each other, but were too shy to confess it, so they patiently waited for the other to make the first move. Unfortunately for them, both were too shy and flustered to speak up.

_This is so ironic…_ thought Ichigo, _It took me so much courage to ask Masaya out on our first date, but it turned out he liked me too!_

_This is so ironic!_ thought Masaya, _I was too shy to confess that I loved Ichigo for quite a while, but then I did, and here we are!_

_This is so painfully ironic. _thought Kisshu, _I'm always displaying my love to Ichigo on a daily basis, yet nothing ever spawns between us!_

Ah, the irony of love triangles. Kish was getting tired of them,

_Alright, time for plan three._

He quietly teleported out of his seat, trying to conceal any noise or movement. Ichigo felt the air being disturbed and turned to see had left. She threw a little party in her mind,

_Yes! Finally!_

Kish, however, was not gone. He had simply teleported to the screening room above the theatre where the projector was currently being operated. He proceeded to give the current employee operating the projector a blunt hit upside the head with one of his Dragon Swords, rendering him unconscious. He put away his sword and flew over to the projector. Studying the various knobs and buttons, he concluded that this would be the kind of thing that Pai should be studying, not him.

_Ah well,_ he shrugged, _I'm sure I'll get it eventually._

He turned a knob on the side of the projector and watched the movie screen. The screen's brightness was gradually decreasing. He turned it the other direction, and it brightened. Several of the people in the theatre turned around in confusion to his direction, but the slim window wouldn't allow any eye contact between the people inside and outside the room.

Musing at the complicated design of the projector, Kisshu proceeded to press a small, green button on the projector. The screen shrunk in size, but it was barely noticeable, so no one was aware of the change. He studied the various buttons around the green one, and pressed a red one next to the green one. The screen grew to the original size.

_So what's this…?_ Kish asked to himself as he eyed the wheel-shaped film reel, as well as the bright light shining from the front. He put his hand in front of the light and noticed that his hand was blocking the picture on the theatre's screen. By now, most of the people in the movie theatre were turning their heads and making rude gestures to the room Kish was in.

_So if this is where the picture comes out…and this is where the film is…_

Kisshu's face slowly split into a cocky grin,

"Maybe Pai isn't the only smart one around here…"

Ichigo was thoroughly enjoying the romantic movie. It was coming to an epic conclusion, after the man of the starring couple had valiantly rescued the woman from a speeding car on the road. They were now on a romantic setting on a hill in a sunset, glittering rays of light streaming onto their faces, and brilliant colors of gold, reds, and pinks lighting up the evening sky. The couple leaned over to each other and shared a romantic kiss, after which the title, 'The End' appeared on the screen. The credits were expected to roll after, but this was not the case.

After the long shot of the couple in the sunset and the closing title, the movie faded to black and a sign appeared on the screen,

_Ichigo, I love you._

Ichigo's eyes lit up and she gasped. She looked over to Masaya with delight and said,

"Masaya?! Did you do this for me?!"

In truth, Masaya had no idea what was going on at the time, but, nevertheless, why waste a perfect and open opportunity?

"Do you like it?" he said sweetly. Ichigo grinned and nodded her head energetically,

"Oh, thank you so much, Masaya! I love you too!" she threw herself in his arms and embraced him lovingly, he doing the same.

By this time, Kish was back in his seat after setting up his little surprise. He had seen the whole thing. He had heard the whole thing. And, quite frankly, it made him sick. How DARE Masaya steal Ichigo's love like that, after all the trouble he went through?!

Kish growled in disgust before teleporting back to base, thinking,

_Note to self: Never try to separate the tree hugger from Ichigo, it only results in backfire._

--


	4. Plan C: Pity

(A.N./ Sorry this one's released this afternoon instead of mid-morning, I've been kind of busy with the task of my sister's Halloween costume. Would you believe me if I said that I had to hand-make, from scratch, her Mew Ichigo costume? Yeah, not fun. Been taking me a month or two. -sweat drop-. Anyways, proceed to chapter three, oh loyal readers!)

--

_One thing was made certain: Masaya was either really lucky, or…_

_Let's just stick with that he was lucky_.

It seemed every time Kish tried to split up Ichigo and him, it ended in disaster, hence the letter and movie incident. It just seemed useless to try.

Nevertheless, as we are already informed, 'useless', 'to', and 'try' are not three words found parallel to each other in Kisshu's vocabulary. So, of course, he would just try to find some way around Masaya.

_That, _he thought to himself, _Or through him…_

That was all it took to make Kish grin as a plan formulated in his mind. Like every plan, he was convinced that this would work for sure, no matter how hard it was to accomplish.

Or how many bruises it gave you.

But first, he had to ask himself a question:

"What makes the Blue Knight tick?"

It didn't take him long to figure that one out.

Boy, this plan was like killing two birds with one stone.

--

"Oi, Pai, don't you think something's wrong with Kisshu?"

"There's always something wrong with him."

"No, no, I mean…more than usual." Pai rolled his eyes at Taruto, who had this suspicious frown plastered on his face.

"Indeed, he does seem to be neglecting his input on our attacks, and I cannot keep him within this dimension for very long." Taruto nodded,

"See what I mean?"

Pai shifted his feet on the pale brown of his study room's floor,

"Since when do you care anyways?" Taruto shrugged,

"I'm just saying, something's up."

--

Kisshu flew high up over the busy streets of Tokyo. Any passerby could easily mistake him for a plane or some kind of bird. His eyes darting through the crowds, he thought to himself,

_There are only about four places Ichigo would usually be. Her house, the café, her school, and the shopping mall. But I couldn't find her in any of them…_ Just then, something snapped in his mind,

"How could I be such an idiot! She's in the park, of course!" Following his little fit of frustration with himself, he teleported to the direction of the familiar park.

Upon arrival, he scanned the park carefully. It didn't take him long to spot the bright, strawberry-red hair of Ichigo, currently taking a stroll down a park path.

"Bingo!" he said to himself. He teleported to a tree up ahead the path Ichigo was on, and perched on it lightly, trying his best not to make the slightest sound.

--

Ichigo hummed to herself as she took her daily walk in the park. It had become a habit of hers, actually. The fresh air and green of the park gave her a light feeling of happiness and energy. She stopped and looked around her slowly when she thought she heard a noise. No one was in sight on the looping park trail, only small wildlife and the trees around her were in her company. Or so she thought.

There.

She heard it again. It sounded like a small whisper.

Now she was getting freaked out. She headed in the direction she though she heard it last, despite her better judgment. Boy, would she regret it.

"Koneko-chan!"

Before she knew it, a rustle in the tree was heard and none other than Kisshu swooped, upside down, to give a small peck to her nose. She jumped back and put her hands on her nose,

"Kisshu!" He grinned, still upside-down from the tree branch,

"Too bad, I was aiming for your lips. Did Masaya ever tell you they taste like strawberries?" Ichigo turned a bright shade of red and removed her hands from her face before angrily replying,

"What do you want?! You almost ruined my date yesterday, so what do you need now?!" Kish smirked, tapping Ichigo lightly on her nose with his finger,

"But I didn't, now, did I?" Ichigo smacked his hand away from her before saying,

"I don't have time for this!" She turned on her heel and was about to walk away when Kisshu teleported directly in front of her,

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Away from you, of course!" Kisshu leaned down to her face,

"I protest to that idea, Koneko-chan." Ichigo reached out to slap him before he caught her hand, "It's a good thing the Blue Knight's not around, it's just you and me." Ichigo's face morphed into one of mixed fear and anger.

_That should do it,_ Kisshu thought to himself, _She should be mentally calling for the Blue Knight by now…_

Sure enough, moments later the Blue Knight made a dramatic, sweeping entrance from what seemed to be the sky itself, his sword glinting in the afternoon sun for dramatic effect. He dropped in Kish's direction and lashed out with his sword. On instinct, Kish dropped Ichigo's hand and narrowly dodged the attack off to the side.

"Blue Knight!" Ichigo said excitedly. Kisshu mentally slapped himself,

_No, no…don't fight him…don't dodge…_ he reminded himself. He steadied himself on his feet and was about to speak before he was cut off by another charging attack from the Blue Knight. _Brace yourself…_ he thought.

The impact of the sword would be defined as something related to a crack, although not as sharp, to Kish's head. The sword made a straight impact on the side of his head, skinning all the way down from his ear to his nose. He hit the ground from the force. Hard. Resisting the urge to cry out in pain, he clutched the side of his head. _Get up. You're stronger then that. If your going to get any sort of pity from Ichigo, you have to prove stronger…_

Feeling the oozing blood on his hand and face, he arose slowly from the ground, only to be knocked down to the ground again by a second blow from the sword on the other side of the face. This time Kish did give a small cry of pain before his face met the dirt again. Soil got into his wounds, and it stung, adding to the already unbearable pain.

He didn't bother to stand up this time, but propped himself up with one elbow and trying to keep in focus of the world around him.

"_I hope you've learned your lesson."_ The Blue Knight's voice sounded distant, and so did Ichigo's reply,

"_You did splendid, Blue Knight! Thank you_!"

That was the last thing he heard before he used the last of his strength to teleport, and then…

He blacked out.

--

"_Pai! Do you know what he was doing?!"_

"_No idea, but I have a hunch it had something to do with the Blue Knight person…"_

"_Oh, come on, not again! How many times does he have to-"_

"Pai? Taruto?" Kisshu muttered as he slowly blinked open his eyes to the voices around him. Pai and Taruto were leaning over him, giving him those half-worried, half-angry glares.

"Where were you, and how did you receive those injuries?" Pai said angrily.

"It had to do with the Blue knight guy, right?" Taruto asked.

_That didn't take long._

"Um…"

Pai nodded,

"Thought so. Listen, you have to stop meaninglessly injuring yourself! It not only effects you, it effects us, our mission, Deep Blue, and even our whole civilization because of the massive delays your causing!" Kisshu sat up and nodded,

"Yeah, trust me, I won't be looking for the Blue Knight again-"

"You were LOOKING for him?!" Taruto burst out.

"Shut up, midget." Kish hissed. He righted himself into a sitting position and rubbed his head. He had a splitting headache, and his whole head felt very sore, "I'm going to go…somewhere else." Despite Pai's protest of "Kisshu! Don't you dare-" he teleported away, cutting him off. He needed some time alone. After all, another marvelous plan was already formulating in his mind. This time, he would do his best to fill in all of the holes and wedges so nothing could go wrong.

And it didn't involve coming in contact with a blonde man in a blue dress.

--


	5. Plan D: Chivalry

(A.N./ And here we are with chapter four! Technically, this is chapter five including the preface, but I'm calling this chapter four because it's the fourth full-size chapter! So there! Enough of my ranting, read the chapter!)

--

Kisshu cringed as he sat up from the place where he slept. He had spent the night on top of his favorite rooftop, gazing at the stars until he was willing and able to drift into the deep depths of sleep. Now, though, he regretted doing so for several reasons. First of all, his back ached terribly from the hard concrete. Secondly, his face still stung from the incident the day before. Third, he would have to face Pai and Taruto about leaving before he received proper medical treatment.

He felt his face gingerly for the scars on either side. The blood was mostly gone, but the scars were forming, and he could feel the trench in his skin where they were. One thing was made certain: he was not taking any risky chances any time soon, whether with the Blue Knight or Ichigo herself. So he thought for a bit before his plan made the previous day formulated, once again, into his mind.

It was simple enough, yet effective.

_Now, where did I last see Pai's art supplies…?_

Believe it or not, Pai had been the artist type before the mission. His calm, quiet personality was developed from many hours of solitary pastel painting, the beautiful color swirling expertly into wonderful works of art. Although his hobby was abandoned on the mission, he didn't neglect to bring along his art tools and supplies, just in case he decided to take up his passion in the arts again.

Lucky for Kisshu, he knew about Pai's little hobby, and was currently going through Pai's stuff while he wasn't around.

"Come on, it's got to be in here somewhere…" he muttered to himself as he rummaged through one of Pai's sack leather bags.

"_What's_ in there somewhere?"

The deep, booming voice of Pai reached Kish's ears, and his dark shadow loomed over him menacingly. Kish slowly turned his head to look up at a very angry-looking Pai, who had a terrifying scowl implanted on his face.

_Great, how am I going to talk myself out of this one…?_ Kish thought to himself as the corners of his mouth twisted into a sheepish grin, his blood running cold,

"Well, uh…I kind of lost-"

"You're lying." Pai said darkly. Kish gawked at him for a bit before remembering that Pai possesses many unknown abilities such as occasional mind-reading, that scowl that made your skin crawl, and apparently a sixth sense that told him when someone was going through his stuff.

"Well, the truth is…" Kish began, still wearing a ridiculous sheepish grin. Pai nodded for him to continue, "The truth is I'm looking…for your…art supplies." Pai's face morphed into one of surprise and suspicion,

"Why would you need them?"

"I don't know."

"Yes. You do." Kish's face fell as he tried to come up with some kind of excuse,

"Uh…it's kind of embarrassing."

"I don't care." Pai said coldly. Kish's face fell,

"Um…I'm bored." Pai rolled his eyes,

"And why would you want them then?"

"I just said, I'm-"

"Yes, yes. But you can't have them, so get out of my bag." Pai was turning away when Kish protested,

"You never use them anyways!" Pai stopped to look at him out of the corner of his eye.

An awkward silence passed between them for a few moments before Pai replied,

"Alright. Don't mix any of the colors up, don't fray the brushes and don't-"

"Thank you!" Kisshu said hurriedly as he shoved his hand in the bag and brought out all of the supplies. He immediately teleported, in spite of Pai's yell of,

"Kisshu! Wait!" By the time he had finished saying that, he was gone. Pai sighed and closed his eyes, massaging the bridge of his nose,

"That was a huge mistake."

"I haven't tried this in a while." Kisshu muttered to himself. He held a blank canvas on his lap and a paintbrush in his hand; various shades of colors were sitting next to him in their containers. He twirled the paintbrush in his hand absent-mindedly as he wondered how exactly he would go about the task ahead.

_I probably shouldn't stress about getting it right immediately, since I have plenty of spares…_ he glanced out of the corner of his eye to the stacking pile of spare canvases. So, he decided, he would just practice before he tried the final product of what he would paint, that way the result would be more stunning then if he didn't practice beforehand.

Still, the whole painting concept was pretty new, and not something he'd usually be doing in the first place. So practice was mandatory in this sort of situation.

Hour after hour, canvas after canvas, Kisshu was beginning to grow impatient with himself. And here he thought this would be easy enough. Girls liked paintings, right? That's what he kept reminding himself every time he messed up a stroke or spilt paint on the canvas accidentally. Finally, after the fourteenth canvas, the final product was completed. Kisshu held it from a distance to admire his work. Nodding in satisfaction, he took out a notebook from among the supplies and a inking pen. He tore out a page and scribbled a note before attaching it to the back of the painting canvas.

"Alright, that should do it." he said in satisfaction. He glanced up to see it was already nearing evening; he had been painting, literally, all day. He hurriedly got up from his position, spilling over several containers of paint in the process,

"I've got to get going!" he said to himself as he took up his canvas and teleported away to Ichigo's house.

--

Landing on the thick branch next to Ichigo's window, he balanced himself hastily, struggling to keep his balance. From there, he took a quick glance into her window to make sure she wasn't in her room, then teleported in. Placing the picture on her desk, he teleported out and picked a different, more concealing branch on the tree and waited.

After about fifteen minutes, Ichigo entered her room, yawning. She looked to her desk to see the picture…

--

It didn't take Ichigo long to notice the picture on her desk, despite her tiredness from her busy day at school.

No surprise it wasn't hard to miss, the picture was of a bright crimson rose, its green stem adorned with detailed leaves and thorns. The petals were intricately detailed in brilliant reds to make a full, beautiful appearance of the perfect romantic symbol.

She gasped at the artwork and picked it up gingerly. The canvas was still a bit wet, and her finger left a print on the paint. She quickly removed it and held it like a tray from the back. That's when she felt a note on the back. She took it off carefully and began to read,

_Ichigo,_

_Sorry about yesterday. I hope you can forgive me. To apologize, I painted you this. The paint may be still wet, so avoid touching it if you can._

She stopped and blinked when she read the signature. Taken aback, she read it again.

_-Kisshu._

"He couldn't have painted this!" she said to himself, "He probably stole it from someone else or threatened someone into painting it or something like that! Yeah, that has to be it. I mean, that's totally not him to do that! He's never a _gentleman!_ It's simply illogical!" she ranted on, trying to list excuses why it's not logically possible for Kisshu to do something gentlemanly, nevertheless, paint a picture.

She sighed and looked over the painting again. Crumpling the note and throwing it in the trash bin, she was about to do the same with the painting, but she hesitated. Biting her lip, she walked over to her dresser and set it on top. She nodded in satisfaction,

_No one will ever know he painted it, if he really did._ With that, she twirled around and marched out the door, neglecting her homework once again.

--

Kisshu sighed in relief and smirked to himself. For once, one of his plans worked. Sort of. At least she didn't throw away the painting. Turning and taking off from his branch, he teleported back to the base.

Pai was there waiting for him when he entered, his scowling glare looming over him once more,

"Kisshu. Where are my paints?" Kisshu stopped dead, his golden eyes widening in fear.

"Oops."


	6. Plan E: Innocence

(A.N./ And we're back with chapter five! This one, as you might notice as you read, is a bit more…dramatic then some of the last, at least towards the end, hence the abnormally long length (at least compared to previous chapters). But, with out further revealing spoilers, read on!)

--

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Light footsteps echoed in the lime-green-colored space of the alien dimension. Pai drummed his fingers on his control pad.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Swish.

The swish was the sound of the turning of the heel, as the footsteps continued in a steady pacing manner.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Kisshu, would you stop that?"

Kisshu looked up from his pacing,

"Doing what?" Pai waved a hand wearily in his direction,

"Pacing like that. It's distracting."

"Well I'm not making any-"

"Yes, you **are** making noise. It's annoying and distracting me from my work." Kisshu sniffed indifferently,

"You need to take a rest, that's what."

With that, he continued his steady pacing. He was thinking, and pacing seemed to help him think. _Hear that?_ he said to himself, _I'm turning into Pai._

Still, he had a lot on his mind.

_No, rephrase that. _

He had things on his mind that he needed to sort out.

First of all, he had just had his first success with Ichigo, if you call her keeping his gift a success. To him, it was a huge accomplishment, considering the circumstances (via, their "relationship"). So he was going to build around that information to devise his next plot.

_So Koneko-chan likes gifts, ne? _he thought to himself, _It would be safest, then, to give her another gift. In fact…_ he turned the plan over in his mind once or twice. This would definitely work. He smirked to himself, but his face fell when he happened to glance at Pai typing on his supercomputer. Just to test his theory, he leapt off the ground slightly and tried to teleport.

In an instant, Pai's entire computer system lit up a blazing red with an alert sign. A shrill, deafening alarm sounded in the room.

Pai jolted around to look at a panicked and sheepish-looking Kish. He typed in a few codes on his computer and the lights and beeping ceased. Turning to Kish, he growled low,

"Kisshu, did you try to teleport, even though you are, once again, under house arrest?" Kisshu decided to do more of his luck-testing.

"No." he said in his most frank voice he could muster. Pai nodded,

"Lying, as expected from you." Kish rubbed the back of his neck as Pai continued, "What you just heard and saw was the alarm system going off. I set up the dimension with a signal that detects any trace amounts of teleporting coming from you specifically. Let me narrow that down for your small mind. Don't do stupid things, Kisshu." Pai turned back to his computer work as Kish sighed and sat down, cross-legged on the spot.

_This sucks._ he thought to himself, _Pai is in the worst kind of mood from me losing virtually all of his art supplies, and I have come up with yet another plan, only to find out I can't put it to work. _

He huffed in frustration. Setting his mind to work again, he quickly came up with a solution.

Getting up from his sitting position slowly, he took off from the ground and flew a little distance from Pai's living space, took a few turns, and found himself in Taruto's room. Taruto, no surprise to Kisshu, was sleeping. His curled-up form lay under his disheveled sheets. He heard small snoring noises every few seconds.

Grinning to himself, her picked up a small pen among the multiple items strewn across Taruto's floor, he took off the cap and bent down to Taruto's face. Precariously trying not to make the slightest noise, he began to draw.

After about five minutes, when he was completely satisfied with his work, Kish stood up and put the cap back on the pen, tossing it back on the messy floor, and picking up another object in the process. He then shook Taruto brisky,

"Oi, Sleeping Beauty. Get up." Taruto groaned a bit and blinked his eyes open,

"What?"

"I need you to do me a favor."

"Yeah, sure I will." Taruto muttered sarcastically.

"Say cheese."

Without waiting for a response, Kish readily took aim with the camera he had just picked up and took a picture. Blinded by the flash, Taruto ducked back under his sheets,

"Geez, Kish, what was that for?!"

"This." he replied smugly as he shoved the screen of his digital camera in Taruto's face, now peeping out of the sheets. Taruto's eyes grew wide at the picture. A messily drawn moustache and glasses, with a complimentary goatee, was adorning his tired-looking face. He was about to snatch the camera, but Kish was too quick for him,

"Uh, uh, uh. Now, you will do exactly what I say or this is being shown to everybody you know. Including Pudding-chan." Taruto stiffened and glared up at Kish,

"You dirty ba-"

"Tisk. Where do you pick up such language?" he said smartly, grinning from ear to ear.

"From you." Tart grunted stormily.

Kish, however, was having a ball.

"Now, listen to my instructions carefully. Fail to obey and consequences will result in **total social humiliation**_._"

--

The busy streets in Tokyo bustled around noisily in the rush hour time of day. Confused chatter, the motor of cars, and those little city noises filling the air.

Shuffling through the throngs of people crowding the sidewalk was a figure that appeared quite short. He was wearing a long, tan trench coat and a large, dressy cap that appeared much too big was on his head, small tufts of brown hair sticking out from beneath it. Amber eyes were peering out from under the hat, a strong essence of defiance prominent in his angry glare.

"I swear, I will have no mercy on Kish when I catch him singing in the shower again _on tape_…" he hesitated a moment before an evil smirk crawled up his lips, "Not only that, I'm going to catch him during one of his Gackt performances-"

His mischievous and evil train of thought stopped right in its tracks as Taruto stopped walking. He took a few steps back and peered in a shop window through the crowds of people.

"This is exactly what he wanted. It should do nicely."

Before anyone could wonder or stare, Taruto made the quick move of teleporting into the store, snatching up the object of interest, and teleporting back to base.

--

Upon arrival, Kish looked up from his staring contest with the ceiling to greet Taruto warmly,

"What took you so long, midget?" Taruto resisted the urge to throw the nearest object on the floor at him and shoved the stolen item in his face,

"Here." Kish took it delicately, holding it up in front of him,

"Hm. Very nice. The quality is wonderful. Good job." Kish gave him a little pat on the head. Taruto, however, was not so easily shaken off.

"So, where's the camera?" Kish grinned,

"I stored it away for safe keeping." Taruto looked like he was about to blow, "…but that's not all that I'd like you to do. What I want you to do next is to deliver this to Ichigo's room without making any noise." Taruto huffed,

"Oh, come on! Why can't you-"

"I can't teleport, remember? And besides, I still have-"

"Yeah, yeah." Tart rolled his eyes in frustration, "But how am I supposed to keep it quiet? It was pretty noisy on the way here."

"I'd say that was a lie, considering it's quiet now. See, even when I shake it around, it doesn't give a peep." To demonstrate, Kish lifted up the object and waved it back and forth.

"Yeah, yeah. It's probably scared of your ugly face, that's what." Taruto muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Kisshu asked curiously. Taruto rolled his eyes and sighed,

"I said, 'I'd better get going'." Kisshu smirked,

"That's better!" Gently placing Ichigo's gift back into Taruto's hands, he added,

"Oh, one last thing." Taruto sighed yet again as Kish took out what looked like a small microchip,

"Attach this to its tag." Taruto was obedient in taking the small device and clipping it on the tag.

"What is this thing anyways?" he asked. Kish smiled cheerfully,

"I'm glad you asked! This happens to be a very small, live webcam that rides on a radio signal!" Taruto raised his eyebrows,

"Don't tell me your that much of an idiot to go digging through Pai's electronics again?!" Kish grinned,

"Aw, come on. Like he's going to miss one single invention of his. Ne, Taruto?" Taruto sighed once more,

"I'm just going to get this humiliation off my shoulders, okay?" With that, a ripple of air was disturbed around him as he teleported away. Kish got up from the bed and strode over to a screen he had set up on a desk. The webcam's signal broadcasted to the screen from the tag of the gift, so he could see a clear image of what exactly Taruto was doing…and what Ichigo was doing, as well as clear sound quality. He grinned as he watched the screen intently…

--

Taruto teleported to the tree outside Ichigo's window and tried his best not to disturb the branch.

"Geez, I wonder how Kish stays out here all night." he muttered to himself. Positioning himself on the branch, he looked into the window in front of him to see that Ichigo's pink, girly room was empty. He quickly and quietly teleported inside, set the gift on her desk, and teleported out, before Masha could raise an alarm. Wiping his brow in relief, he proceeded to teleport back to base.

--

Ichigo stumbled into her room after her dinner consisting of her dad's homemade curry and white rice. Sure, she wasn't one to criticize, but when it comes to homemade curry, there are exceptions that are set in place. She flopped on her bed and sighed, shutting her eyes in her tiredness,

"Ah…today stunk. Classes were too long, I forgot my homework, Ryou worked me to the bone, and dad's curry is giving me a stomachache. In fact, I think I could curl up and sleep right…" she turned over in her bed and spied the object on her desk.

"Nya… (Hello…)"

Ichigo cocked her head,

"A kitten? What's it doing in my room?"

A small, black kitten with bright, shining green eyes sat patiently on her desk. She got up off her bed and lifted it up off the desk, cradling it in her arms. The kitten snuggled up to her,

"Nya, nya… (That feels good.)" Ichigo whispered softly in its ear,

"How did you get in my room, may I ask?" The kitten purred softly,

"Nya, nya nya…nya nya. Nya nya. (Some little boy put me here against my will.)" Ichigo lifted the kitten off her chest to look it in the eyes, her eyebrows raised,

"What did this little boy look like?"

--

Kish was mentally cursing himself for not remembering. Ichigo can speak to cats! Another one of her talents he admired. But now, it would lead to his own demise.

In spite of himself, Kish kept his eyes glued to the screen as he turned up the volume level on the monitor…

--

"Nyaaa nya nya ny, nyaaa nya (Brown hair in pigtails, big ears, revealing outfit.)" Ichigo furrowed her brow. Taruto. But why would he put a kitten in her room?

"Nya Nya Nyaa Nya. Nya Nyaaa, Nya Nya. (He was under threat from an older boy, green hair, big ears, also revealing outfit.)" This time, Ichigo tightened her grip on the kitten in her anger unconsciously.

"Nya Nya! (That hurts!)" Ichigo released the kitten from her grip,

"I'm sorry, It's just that those two boys make me angry. Where did you come from in the first place?"

"Nya nya Nya Nyaa. Nya Nyaaaa nya Nya nyaa nya Nya. (A place with lots of animals, people walking outside, and fancy white dresses in the place across the cars.)" Ichigo nodded,

"I know that place. Would you like me to take you back in the morning?"

"Nya nyaa. (Yes, please.)" Ichigo smiled,

"Are you okay staying here for the night?"

"Nya nya. (Yes, I'm fine.)" Ichigo nodded and wandered over to her bed to make a sort of nest out of spare blankets. The kitten spoke again,

"Nya Nyaa nya nyaa. (There's something else you should know.)" Ichigo looked up momentarily from her bedding and continued her work,

"What is it?"

"Nya nyaa nya nyyaaa, Nya nya. (The green boy put a live webcam on my tag)." Ichigo's head shot up from what she was doing and looked directly at the kitten's tag. Sure enough, a small device with a tiny, red light was attached to the tag. Ichigo took a deep, calming breath and walked over to the kitten,

"May I have your tag for a moment so I can speak to the green boy?"

"Nya Nyaa nya. (Go ahead.)" Ichigo gently took off the kitten's collar and held it up to her face, examining the camera closely. She walked into the nearest bathroom, as not to disturb the rest of the house with any kind of screaming that would take place.

--

Kish was NOT a happy camper. In fact, he felt like crawling into a hole or going missing for a couple days…

Maybe even dying right there.

This was the last thing he expected and he was not ready for a direct speech from Ichigo. At all.

Boy, was he in for it now.

--

"**Kish, you INSOLENT JERK!**" Ichigo screamed into the tag, "Do have ANY idea how angry I really am?! I'd guess NOT, because you NEVER understand human emotions EVER!"

--

Kish gritted his teeth, _That was harsh_.

--

"I thought you actually got it through to your thick skull that I **DON'T LIKE YOU** months ago! Besides that, all of these incidents over the past days have really gotten to me, believe it or not, and I've just about reached my tolerance point!"

--

Okay, now it was certain.

Kish wanted to drop dead right there to escape this.

--

"So I will take this poor, abused kitten back to the adoption center where it belongs, and forget this EVER happened!" She paused for a moment before saying,

"And just for the record, I'm throwing away the painting!"

--

That was about all Kish was going to take in one night.

"DRAGON SWORDS!"

With one sweep of the swords, the entire screen was smashed into thousands of pieces across the desk with an ear-splitting crash.

A piece of glass dropped off the desk and onto the floor; the small plinking noise echoed eerily in the room as it landed.

He slammed his fist on his desk,

"**ARG! Why can't I ever do anything RIGHT**?!"

--

After the words escaped Ichigo's lips, the little red light on the microchip stopped glowing. She smiled,

"I guess he took that as his cue to leave." she sighed happily, "He won't be bothering me for a while now, and plus, I'm glad I got that off my back!"

She walked back to her room and removed the microchip, placing the collar back on the kitten. She picked it up gently, like holding a baby, and placed it into the little nest of blankets she had made. She kitten snuggled up warmly under the smooth cotton, shutting its eyes peacefully.

"I promise you'll be home by tomorrow," Ichigo said, stroking its head, "Goodnight."

She turned from the bed and walked to her dresser, taking the picture of the rose off of it. Striding over to her trash can with confidence, she raised her arm as to slam it in.

But…it wouldn't move.

She just couldn't throw it away. She struggled with herself, trying to make her arm fling that canvas straight in the trash. But she just couldn't do it.

Instead, she lowered her arm down and walked back over to her dresser. Hesitantly, she opened one of her drawers and shoved it deep into the bottom of it. Pushing it all the way back and moving the clothes back, she shut it with a satisfactory shove.

_No one will ever know._

_I just couldn't throw it away._

--

"Kish! Kish, Pai wants to speak with you about the invention you stole! He looks pretty mad, so If I were you I would…Kish? Kish, are you there?" Taruto opened the door hesitantly, "Kisshu?"

All he saw was a curled up ball of Kisshu on the bed.

"Oi, wake up. Don't make me get the camera-"

"_Shut up._"

His words sounded so cold and icy, like they could pierce straight through your heart.

Taruto took a step back,

"Kish? Kisshu, are you alright?"

No response.

Taruto took another step back,

"I-I'll tell Pai to…talk to you…later. Bye." with that, he left the room in a hurry, slamming the door behind him. Kish turned over in his bed, sighed deeply, and shut his eyes.

Deafening silence reigned in the room for a few moments before Kish spoke quietly,

"I'm not giving up. Just…not yet."

--


	7. Plan F: Boldness

(A.N./ Chapter 6! Enjoy!)

--

"My life sucks."

_You can do something about it._

"No I can't."

_Yes, you can. Tell her how you really feel, set her straight._

"Like she'll listen."

_Sure she will. _

"No she won't."

_Just tell her your point of view. She __will__ listen, trust me._

"I'm done arguing with you."

_I'm not finished._

"Here I am, arguing with myself. My conscience, to be exact. Someone's going to walk in here and see me, think I'm crazy, and-"

"Kisshu, are you talking to yourself again?"

Kish rolled over in his bed, hiding his face from view of anyone that has the potential to humiliate him in his time of desperation.

"Kisshu."

This time, the voice was more distinct, loud, and deep. It was Pai. Kisshu didn't hesitate to mutter,

"What?"

Pai strode into his room and sat down next to him, as well as Taruto, who sat farther away, obviously not risking being pummeled by his older brother in his temper.

"Kisshu." Pai repeated. Kish groaned,

"What do you **want?**"

"I put the teleportation barrier down."

Not any sooner did the word "down" escape Pai's lips did Kish teleport away, to who knows where.

Pai sighed.

"Aren't you going to try and stop him?!" Taruto said, shocked at Kisshu's sudden reaction and Pai's unwary nature towards him.

"No, he needs freedom." Pai said solemnly, getting up from his sitting position, "I understand why he left, I would do so too."

Taruto simply watched with wide eyes as Pai casually walked out of the room and into his own computer space.

He looked from where Kisshu was, to the door, and back to the floor. He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose, gliding out of the room slowly,

"I will never, ever understand Pai."

--

"I'll try once more." Kisshu concluded, after struggling with his own self on the matter of his dedication to Ichigo.

"I'll give it one more shot. I'm going to face her head-on, tell her my purpose, why I do what I do." He shook his head,

"What exactly am I telling myself? Lies? Most likely." he sighed, "Like I'd have the wits to actually move Ichigo to believe me for real. It's…"

He paused, staring into the afternoon sun, its golden color shining out against the clear, blue sky.

"It's worth a shot."

He then teleported to the all-so-familiar tree outside Ichigo's window, and, after checking to make sure the coast was clear, teleported into her room. Picking up a sticky-note from her desk, and a pen, he scribbled a small message onto it.

Setting the pen and pen down, he stuck the note onto her desk.

He was about to teleport out before he spied her top dresser drawer. What caught his eye was that something was sticking out of the top. Gliding over, he gave it a small yank and pulled it out.

It was the painting of the rose he had painted her.

He grinned slyly,

"Tisk tisk, Koneko-chan, didn't your parents ever tell you not to lie?"

Spirits renewed, he set the canvas onto the top of the dresser.

Struggling with the urge to go through her dresser drawers, he shoved the open one shut and teleported out of the room, praying that, just this once, this plan would work.

--

"I hate Mr. Kenichi!" Ichigo growled as she stumbled into her room, struggling under a massive pile of books and paper, "Giving us this much homework over the weekend must be against the law! As a plus, I had to carry it all the way to and from work!" She sighed and relaxed her arms, proceeding to stretch them and yawn in a cat-like manner,

"Nyaaaaa" she stopped when she saw the small note on her desk. Picking it up, she read,

_Meet me at 9:00 tonight, next to the school entrance._

"Hold on a second…" she said aloud to herself.

She turned and dug through her trash bin, and brought up the not that was taped to the back of the painting of the rose.

Sure enough, they both were in the same handwriting.

"Kisshu…" Ichigo hissed, "I thought I told him off just two days ago."

She studied the note, wondering to herself what to do about Kisshu's persistence.

Suddenly, an evil, but ingenious plan formulated into her mind. She grinned and picked up her phone, dialing and holding it up to her ear.

"_Moshi Moshi, Minto speaking."_

"Hi Mint! It's Ichigo!" A sigh was heard through the speaker,

"_Look, Ichigo, I have dance class in thirty minutes, so make it quick."_ Ichigo tried to withhold the anger pouring over at Minto's snooty attitude, and she succeeded as she spoke,

"Okay, so you'll never guess what!"

"_Try me_."

"So I found this note in my things coming back from Café Mew Mew, and it's a note from a secret admirer, asking to come to the school entrance at nine tonight!"

"_I'm glad and all, but why do I care?"_

"The thing is, it's addressed to you! It must have been set in the wrong place!" There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Minto's reply:

"_Yeah, right_."

"No, I'm dead serious! It says right here, '_Minto, meet me at 9:00 tonight next to the Kanto District High School entrance. Sincerely, your Secret Admirer'!" _

Another awkward silence.

"_Really_?"

"Seriously! I swear!" Ichigo grinned to herself as she crossed her fingers behind her back.

"_If this is fake, I'll have Ryou dock your paycheck_."

"I'm serious. Really."

"_Alright, I'll go, but if it's fake_-"

"I'm so happy for you! You rule, Minto! Bye!" Ichigo then hung up. She grinned from ear to ear and spun around giddily,

"Yes, yes, yes! It worked! Ichigo, you rock!" Stopping her spinning, she turned to the direction of her dresser, to see the painting had returned to its original spot.

"I could've sworn I put this away…" she stopped her train of thought when she remembered.

The note…she found it on her desk, when it wasn't there this morning. And the painting was mysteriously back on the dresser.

The note was easy enough to explain, Kisshu simply teleported in, wrote it, and left.

However, the painting…last time she saw it, it was in her dresser drawer.

That means that Kisshu…

Her mood instantly changed from chipper in her pride to anger and frustration with her own personal stalker,

"He definitely deserves what's coming to him tonight at nine," she muttered. She shot a nasty glare to the pile of homework next to her,

_**I **__certainly won't be going anywhere. Not with this mountain of homework._

_--_

Minto checked her small, silver watch on her wrist.

_8:58, I think I'll make it in time._

She had been chaperoned a block away from the place specified, the school entrance. From there she walked, trying to make a good first impression; trying her best not to appear an aristocrat by being driven up in a limousine.

_8:59._

--

_8:59._

_I hope I don't mess up. I hope she shows. _

Kisshu thought hopefully as he sat on the stairs of the school entrance.

_Please let this turn out well…_

_--_

_8:59_

Ichigo read the time on the clock, smirking to herself.

_What would I give to be a fly on the wall where they are right now…?_

--

9:00.

At nine o'clock, three things happened.

Minto rounded the corner.

Kisshu, with his sharp eyesight, saw it was not Ichigo.

Minto screamed.

--

Minto felt a hand clamp over her mouth,

"Don't. Scream."

She nodded quickly and Kisshu released her, sitting down wearily back on the stairs.

"You're my secret admirer?!" she said fairly loudly. Kisshu shot her a strange look,

"Who told you that?"

"Well you left me the note!"

"I didn't leave you any note; I left a note for _Ichigo_ to meet me here at nine, not you!"

At that moment, both realized what was going on.

"Ichigo." they both said in unison.

Kish sighed and massaged his forehead,

"This was a mistake to even try…" he got up to leave, but Minto grabbed his arm,

"Wait a moment," she said. Kish gave her a nasty glare, but she ignored it entirely.

"Sit." she commanded, as if she was ordering around a stubborn puppy. Kish rolled his eyes and sat back down on the stairs,

"What do you want?"

"Why did you want to meet Ichigo here?" Kish looked her in the eye,

"Do you really think I'd tell you?"

"I'm here and listening," she said, "Tell me anything." Kish sighed, putting his face in his hands. After a few moments he replied,

"Alright. Where to start…"

Minto waited patiently, also taking a seat on the stairs.

"Well…" Kish began, "It all started about a week ago. Maybe two. Pai challenged my feeling for Ichigo, and I told him that I would prove to him that I really loved her. After that…well, it kind of went downhill…" his voice trailed off.

"Continue." Minto stated. Kish shook his head,

"I feel like I'm talking to a therapist."

"Good, that's what I was aiming for. Except I'm free, and I'll actually listen to what you have to say." Kish nodded,

"Okay…" he paused, "Well, on my first two attempts, I tried to break up Ichigo and Masaya, because, obviously, I can't fit into the picture unless Masaya is out." Minto made no move to protest, just stared at him with listening eyes, absorbing every word.

"After my failed attempts, I went straight to the source. I tried to make Ichigo feel pity for me by getting seriously hurt by the Blue Knight, without attack either of them. After that failed, I found myself disabled to trying anything risky, so I resorted to a more feminine method. I painted her a picture and gave it to her. She kept the picture, but she doesn't seem to think much of it, and it didn't help our relationship." He sighed and massaged his temples.

"Keep going." Minto encouraged. Kisshu nodded,

"After that little success, I figured I'd take it a step further and, since I was under house arrest from Pai, long story, I had Taruto deliver a small black kitten to her, a camera attached to it to monitor Taruto and see Ichigo's reaction. But I had forgotten Ichigo can speak to cats, and the cat told her everything, where it came from, who put it in her there, and about the camera…" Minto's face was a look of concern,

"Oh no."

"'Oh no' is right, that was probably one of the most humiliating times of my life. It was terrible, the way she yelled and threatened me like that. I got so angry I destroyed the monitor and refused to leave my room for two days. Finally, Pai let me teleport again, so I wrote her a note to come here at nine, so I could sort things out with her in person." He sighed,

"But…I guess it wasn't meant to be. Instead…"

"I came."

"Right."

Kish hung his head. Minto raised her eyebrows,

"My, you've really got quite the problem here." Kish growled,

"Don't rub it in."

"Okay, here's my advice, if you're willing to hear it."

"Shoot."

"If you really want to win Ichigo's heart, you have to really think about what she really wants, not what would be best or beneficial to you. Think about it from her perspective; try putting yourself in her shoes. What if, say you and Ichigo were dating, and I started doing all the things you've been doing to Ichigo to you?" Kish lifted his head a bit, thinking over her words carefully.

"I see your point. But…that just makes it seem all the more useless to try." He sighed again and ran his hand through his forest-green hair. Minto lowered her head, fidgeting with her fingers,

"I'm sure it's not. It's just…hard, I'd say. Try doing something she wouldn't expect, something that will really effect her long-term…"she paused, "…in a positive way, of course." Kish nodded,

"I see your point." Minto got up from her seat on the concrete stairs, yawning and stretching wearily,

"One more thing…" she paused briefly, looking down at Kish, still seated on the stairs, staring up at her curiously. His golden eyes reflected the moonlight in a stunning glimmer; it almost took her breath away. Almost.

She turned on her heel,

"Just promise me you won't act so much like a perv, okay?" she glanced out of the corner of her eye to see a clever grin spread across his face,

"Fine, fine."

She nodded, trying to look professional as she stalked down the sidewalk, calling back,

"I'm glad we had this talk." Kish nodded, giving her a thumbs up. She continued to walk, pulling out her cell phone and dialing for her limo.

"I'm glad too." he said to himself, still grinning,

"Because now I sort of have an idea of what I'm doing."

--


	8. Plan G: Determination

(A.N./

'What's that I see, captain?'

'Why, I know what that is, me matey! _Chapter seven ahoy_!'

'Right-o! Meet at bottom deck for some fresh-brewed honey ale!')

--

"I'm leaving the teleportation sensors unlocked, and tracking devices off. Feel free to wander, but don't get into any trouble. Ah yes, and I want you back by the time we are, and if we find you out of this room by then, there will be consequences, do you hear me?"

"Yes, _mother_." Kisshu said snidely. Pai ignored him and nodded,

"Alright." he motioned to Taruto, and they both teleported from the room.

Kisshu, however, was still trying to recall what exactly they were doing. He got up from his place and glided over to Pai's computer. Pushing in a few codes, the last open page appeared on the screen; they were of Pai's battle plans.

_Hm. Interesting._

It seemed like Pai had had success with his experiment of the sun, judging by the vast amount of data related to it inscribed on the spreadsheet. Pictures, words, mathematical equations were all based on his studies of the sun's effectiveness to humans.

Tapping in a few more codes, Kish brought up another page or two on the chimera animal Pai had specifically designed. Its skin was designed to reflect and amplify the intensity of the sun's rays off its glittering scales, which were made from a diamond imitation. If the Mews didn't burn their skin fighting it, then they'd burn their eyes trying.

Kish raised an eyebrow at his plan.

Foolproof. What else do you expect from Pai?

Of course, some way, somehow, the Mews would find a way to defeat this thing; defy some kind of logic. It always happened, it was what to expect.

Or…

Maybe he would.

As his mouth curled into a smirk, he got up from the control panel and teleported.

He landed in a dark, dimly-lit room, various machines and mechanics lining the walls. Pai's private study room.

Apparently, Pai had put down _all_ of the teleportation barriers.

Kish strode through the room, his feet lightly tapping on the concrete tile, to the end of the room, where there sat a huge tube-like container, reaching from floor to ceiling. He peered inside to see hundreds of little jelly-like parasites floating idly in the tank.

_I should've known,_ he thought to himself, _Where else would he keep these things?_

He then teleported again, this time, landing on polished, maple floorboards. Ichigo's room. So many times had he been here, without permission, mind you, that he knew his way around.

Assuming Ichigo was at school, he paid no heed to concealing himself in the tree outside until he was sure the coast was clear.

He waited a bit. Any minute now…

"Alien alert! Alien alert!"

_There we are_.

He snatched the squealing, pink ball of fluff they call Masha out of the air and brought it close to his face,

"I wonder where all of those parasites you swallow go anyways. Ah, well. None of my concern, ne?" Masha struggled in irritation,

"Masha needs to tell Ryou! Tell Ryou! Masha is sending transmission!"

Kisshu rolled his eyes and teleported out of the room.

Ten seconds later Mrs. Momomiya opened the door to her daughters room, peering inside curiously,

"That's strange…" she said to herself, "I could've sword I heard people in here." She sighed and shut the door,

"These ears are failing me in my aging."

--

"Keiichiro! We just received a distress call from Masha!"

"Oh no." Keiichiro came to the computer hastily, studying the screen, "I hope the aliens aren't trying to fish information out of him again."

"His signal is unclear, the data readings match those of the incident way back when Ichigo had her weapon upgraded rescuing him. It's highly possible that the same method is being used right now, but we can't be sure. I'm not getting any readings of information drain or power loss, so I will keep monitoring the screen in the meantime." Keiichiro nodded,

"Thank you. Warn me if there is any changes in his status."

--

"Masha's getting help! Masha's getting help!"

The little pink puff was beginning to get on Kisshu's nerves. He swung it around by its tail casually as he walked over to the control pad. Tapping a few buttons, a message flooded the screen,

'_Password:'_

Kisshu furrowed his brow and thought,

_What would Pai use for a password here…_

He pressed a few numbers on the appearing keypad.

'_Access Denied'_

"Lets try that again…" Still swinging around the squealing Masha, he typed in a few more digits. A small beep emitted from the control pad,

'_Password Accepted'_

A little green light lit up on the container with all of the parasites. Kisshu grinned,

"I should've known Pai would use his birthday as a password…I guess he does have his dim-witted momen- OUCH!"

His snide remark was interrupted by a sharp pain on his arm, courtesy of Masha.

"Masha attack! Masha attack!" It squealed. Kisshu wrenched the little robot off his arm forcefully,

"Geez, what kind of robot are you anyways?! You're pink, fluffy, and sharp enough in the jaw to be an overstuffed guinea pig!" Masha just glared at him,

"Elf is mean! Elf is mean!" Kisshu narrowed his eyes,

"Why you little…" his voice trailed off when he remembered why exactly he had the little, pink, furry excuse for a robot in his possession in the first place. He relaxed the tension on his face and turned to the parasite container. Peering in, he pressed a button on the machine and the door opened. Instantly hundreds of the little parasites flooded the room, flying around in a confused cloud. Masha instantly went wild,

"Collect! Collect! Collect!" Kisshu released his grasp from it and it dove into the cloud, continually repeating, "Collect! Collect!" Kisshu smirked,

"That's right. Eat as much as you want. In fact, help yourself to all of them, if you'd like!"

--

"Keiichiro! Come here quickly!" Ryou called to the room above him. Within moments following, Keiichiro was dashing down the stairs,

"What is it, Ryou?"

"Take a look at these readings!" Keiichiro narrowed his eyes at the screen, only to have them widen once again,

"This is crazy! What exactly are they trying to do to Masha?!" Ryou shook his head,

"I…I don't know! Whatever it is, he's swallowing dozens more parasites by the minute!"

Suddenly a siren erupted from the system, and a red alert flashed onto Ryou's screen. He typed in a flurry of codes, bringing up his map of the city and tracker,

"Hold on, the aliens are attacking a park on the west side of the Kanto region! This doesn't make any sense!" Keiichiro nodded,

"But there might be an explanation as to what they're doing." Ryou turned to him as he continued, "Think about it, without Masha, the parasites that they release will only go into one animal after the next, and they can infuse them with constant human spirits for as long as they can. The parasites will never be stopped without Masha, and we don't have a backup robot ready!" Ryou nodded,

"Good point. By why, then, are they feeding him parasites?" Keiichiro shook his head,

"I don't know." Ryou ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes, thinking hard for a solution,

"Regardless, we need to send the girls." Keiichiro nodded,

"Right."

--

Pai and Taurto came to a stop at a wide-open, busy park amongst a small forest of trees. Families sat on the benches and were taking strolls on its cobblestone paths, enjoying the fair weather. Pai eyed the place and said quietly,

"This will do nicely."

He gazed up into the sky, shielding his eyes from the light of the sun that would aid him in his plans. Taruto nodded,

"This place looks good. Let's start, shall we?"

--

"That's it, little fur ball, eat as much as you like! I'm not going to stop you!" Kisshu called to the little robot. It had sized the cloud of parasites into about half its previous size. That's when Kisshu spotted something suspicious.

On the other side of the room, in its own, special little tank, was a, oversized monster of a parasite, its colors consisting of a golden-tinted copper and rust red. Kisshu flew over to it and lifted off the lid of the tank, setting it free.

He turned to Masha and pulled it out of the cloud of parasites by its tail and turned it to face the parastie.

"Eat." he spoke simply, but demanding. Masha opened its mouth, sucking the parasite in,

"Collect!" It then turned back to its devouring of the rest of the parasites. Kisshu smirked,

_All is going according to plan…_

--

"Not you guys again!"

The high-pitched voice of Mew Ichigo reached Pai's ears as he turned to see her, and the rest of the mews, approaching,

"For the future of the Earth, I'll be of service, Nya!" Ichigo said, finishing off her catchphrase with a small tinkle of her bell on her furry, black cat tail. By now, a crowd of onlookers were gathering at a safe distance.

"Now," Ichigo continued, pointing an angry finger at the two aliens above her, "What are you here for this time?!" Taruto grinned,

"Nothing really. Just our best plan yet! Prepare to die, Tokyo Zoo Crew!" Mew Pudding raised a fist in protest,

"Taru-taru, that's not very nice, na do da!" Taruto recoiled at the nickname,

"I told you not to call me that!" Pai groaned,

"Will you stop your petty arguing, please? I would like to get on with the mission." Taruto nodded and let the argument slide.

Pai lifted his hand as to summon a parasite, but nothing happened. He furrowed his brow and tightened the muscles in his hand.

Nothing.

His knuckles were turning white from the strain.

Still nothing was happening.

He growled,

"Taruto, there has been some interference. Back to the base." Taruto looked from Pai, to his hand, and back up to Pai before nodding slowly and teleporting with Pai.

The Mews just looked upward curiously.

"Well, that was rather…strange." Lettuce remarked, fiddling with a strand of her hair.

"I agree. Something must have been wrong with their plans, so they abandoned the mission." Zakuro stated. Minto nodded,

"I think Onii-sama is right." Ichigo was about to add to the conversation before she had a microphone and a camera stuffed in her face,

"Mew Mews! Who are you, really? Where do you come from? What are you doing? Who were the flying people?!" Ichigo stuttered, pushing away the broadcasting equipment and turning to her friends,

"We've got to get out of here, fast!" The others nodded and they sprinted in the direction of Café Mew Mew, leaving the confused cameramen in their dust.

--

"Keiichiro! Take a look at this!" Ryou said, motioning to the screen. The readings on Masha had ceased to rise in numbers.

"Ninety-five parasites! I didn't know Masha had that kind of capacity!" he exclaimed. Ryou nodded,

"I sort of knew, but I never would have thought that he would need to have that many digested at one time. I wonder what they're doing in the first place though…" his voice trailed off as he glanced back at the screen, "Speaking of which, it looks like the aliens have disappeared from the park, and the Mews have just de-transformed on their way back here." Keiichiro mused,

"But we didn't get any signal of a chimera animal!" Ryou nodded,

"That's what's so strange about this situation."

--

Masha was becoming quite accustomed to being pulled around roughly by its tail, so it made no protest to Kisshu, once again, grabbing it out of the air by its tail.

"Good work, little pink guinea pig!" he said cheekily as he swung it around some more, "You did your job well! Will you find your way back home if I send you back right now?" Masha wriggled back and forth,

"Masha will, Masha will!"

"And will you promise not to tell the blonde one about your special treat?"

"Masha will! Masha will!" Kisshu grinned,

"That's a good rodent." He opened up a teleporting hole and flicked Masha in, calling in after it, "See ya!"

Completely satisfied with himself, Kisshu closed his eyes and sighed happily,

"Needless to say, it went perfectly…" he grinned and put his hands behind his head, only to feel them meeting the cold skin of a large hand,

"What went perfectly, Kisshu?"

--


	9. Against All Odds

(A.N./ This is le Final Chapter! I had a whole bunch of fun writing this, and I hope you get the same enjoyment out of reading it! If you don't, why not? Send me a review! I love constructive criticism, as well as constructive compliments. You probably want to get to the chapter, though, instead of listening to me advertise the little blue "Submit Review" button at the bottom of the page, so here you are!)

(P.S. **Important**/ I know I kind of confused some people in the last chapter, so bear with me; this chapter should sort out what was going on. Just in case, I'll give you guys a summary: Kisshu made Masha eat all of the parasites they had in storage simply for the purpose of rendering Pai's chimera animal useless and delaying future attacks. Get it? Got it? Good. Enough blabbering from me, onward!)

--

"I only ask one simple question. Why. Why?" Pai said, glaring down at Kisshu. Kish tried his best not to make eye contact, glaring at his feet dangling off the stone pillar he was seated on instead of looking into Pai's hateful eyes. Silence drifted between them for a few moments before Pai turned his head slightly to Taruto, who wore the same hate in his eyes,

"It would be best if you would leave." Taruto looked, wide-eyed from Pai, to Kisshu, and back to Pai before nodding grimly and teleporting, giving Kisshu one last glance of fear before he was gone. Kisshu slowly averted his eyes from where Taruto was back to his feet. He fidgeted nervously, awaiting the worst from the angry companion before him.

"Well?" Pai said coldly, "Why?"

Silence.

"Answer my question." he said, raising his voice to a higher volume, "Why did you betray us, **yet again**? I mean, honestly. I had no idea that you were that stupid. Do you know what you did? You just disposed of all of our parasites through Masha, did you not? That little robot ate all of them. And you know what else? That means Deep Blue and I will have to manufacture more; we need to replace all one hundred of them. Now that you are fully aware of your crimes, tell me why you did them." Kisshu shut his eyes and clenched his restless hands into fists,

"You know." he hissed, "I told you, didn't I?" Pai's glare was tearing into his soul now, Kisshu could feel his glare burn right into him as he spoke,

"Told…me…what?" he said, speaking between clenched teeth. Kisshu made eye contact with him for the first time, golden eyes glimmering through his emerald-green bangs; they were filled with hate, challenging Pai's equally deathly glare. He soon regretted it though, as he spoke three words,

"I love her."

That was all Pai could tolerate from the arrogant youth seated before him.

He struck out at him…and hit.

Kisshu was sent off the pillar from the force of the impact, but quickly recovered and softened his impact on the ground, steadying himself on potentially unstable feet. He gingerly fingered the red mark on the side of his face, the skin red and burning with pain. Pai teleported in front of him, this time, choosing to be the one to avoid eye contact. Kisshu managed to stand upright, ceasing to sway to and fro.

What caught him off guard, though, was when he felt a strong hand on his shoulder, "I am truly sorry." Pai confessed. His voice softened as he continued, "But you have to understand how your foolishness effects us all. Think about it." Kisshu looked up to Pai to see his eyes were pools of sadness, no longer full of hate,

"Think about how many people are hurt, how many people die on our planet, each and every day. Every day they have to suffer, clinging onto a hope." He paused briefly before continuing,

"Us. The people back there, all of our race, is counting on us to have a successful mission. They chose us, chose you…because we were the healthiest, and most able-bodied people. You are here for a reason. Don't make me, make them, feel like we're fighting for a lost cause." Kisshu's voice cracked slightly as he responded slowly,

"But…Pai…you must understand, I've never…she…" He stumbled and fell over his words, failing to overcome Pai's inspiring speech from consuming his own logic. Pai bowed his head,

"I'm sorry. Please, for the sake of your people, give up." Kish gritted his teeth,

"Thank…you…" he managed to say between his teeth. Pai released his hand from his companion's shoulder,

"Kisshu, this event will not go unpunished. You will suffer one month of confinement in this dimension. You may not leave here, for any reason at all." Kisshu nodded,

"I understand." His voice was so quiet and unclear that the average human ear could not possibly hear his words. Pai nodded,

"Very good. I must have a conference with Deep Blue-sama now, the teleportation sensors will be on and stay on for the next month."

No response.

"Goodbye, Kisshu." Pai said, before teleporting to his control room.

Kisshu didn't bother to go anywhere, or, quite frankly, do anything. He stood there for about half a minute before slumping to the floor in a sitting position. He leaned his head back on the stone pillar behind him and sighed.

_I never meant for it to be this complicated. All I wanted was to make a difference in her life. Make something better. Without the parasites, we are rendered hopeless, or at least for the weeks until they are replaced. But it makes a difference to her all the same. Isn't that what Minto said? I thought she was right..._

"No, I'm the one who's wrong. My _motive_ is all wrong." he said to himself in a low whisper, "I hate it."

_Or…do I?_

Of any girl in the world, any of the billions of girls, and the thousands on his planet, he just **had** to fall for the **one, single girl **he was supposed to hate. Mew Ichigo.

Yet, at the same time, he couldn't comprehend being with any other girl. The soft, strawberry-red hair, deep, chocolate eyes; hair an adorable bubblegum-pink when she transformed, her eyes a blazing, fiery pink to match. Ah, and the neko ears to top it off. She was perfection with cat ears.

It was just all wrong. Destiny had proved it has a twisted mind when he fell for her. She was his enemy, the one who "stole his planet from him". He was supposed to fight her. So he did. Deep Blue had no mercy when it came to emotions, a stranger to the concept of "love". In some bizarre way, Kisshu enjoyed fighting Ichigo. It was an opportunity to see her face again, when she wasn't with Masaya.

Masaya.

The name was like acid to his tongue, poison to his senses, dulling out any other emotion except for anger and hate. He was the one Ichigo loved. Ichigo was always trailing after him like a lovesick puppy. He was like some kind of drug to her. It made Kisshu furious beyond belief. He awaited the day where he could whip out a Dragon Sword, and pierce it straight to his heart…

No, he couldn't do that. What would Ichigo do? That would seal her hate for him; he had killed her 'true love'. His pleasure in blood would be tinted with guilt, seeing the sadness in her beautiful eyes…

_Erase that mental image._

It was too painful.

With all of those, reasons the excuses, why doesn't he stop? Just pretend he had never kissed her, called her his kitten…he could let it all go. Just do what Pai, Taruto, and Deep Blue-sama says, obey all orders.

No, no…it could never happen. He couldn't forget.

Give up?

Pht.

It's way too late for that.

It was too late to turn back on his emotions when he felt the skin of her lips on his. His life went on a steady spiral downwards from that moment, his entire reputation and esteem plummeting hopelessly.

"But…" he decided with a wistful sigh, "It was all worth it."

Even though he was rebelling against his entire race, even though Deep Blue had ordered against it time and time again, even though **she loved someone else…**

He still loved her.

So he'd put on his signature cocky smirk, gather up his confidence, and come up with another way to win her over.

Against all odds.

Against all odds he'd still try.

--

-The End.


	10. A Jigsaw Puzzle: Happily Ever After?

(A.N./ All of the people with this story on their alert lists must be wondering what the fudge is going on. Well, by popular demand, I decided to add one more chapter to this story. I hope this proves a more satisfying ending to this story! Enjoy!)

--

So…was that it, then?

"_The evil demon was cast out of the land, and the Prince and Princess lived happily ever after." _

The End?

That can't be right.

The "evil demon" contemplated his next strategy, sulking in his alternate dimension of misery.

Or…so he called it. The evil demon's name, in fact, was Kisshu, and he was not in a pleasant mood. After desperately trying to thwart the relationship of "Princess" Ichigo and "Prince" Masaya, he had been confined to his green-lit lair by his older sibling, who was also not a happy camper.

All the more depressing was how long it had been since Kisshu had seen the light of day. A week or two, possibly? He counted off the days on his fingers. He had been in the dimension for thirteen days. About two weeks, really. He had once heard an human saying that stated that thirteen was an unlucky number. Superstition had never really been a subject of his interest, but, considering the circumstances, he was ready to believe any sort of explanation for his miserable luck.

Kisshu was growing more and more desperate by the hour. He had to do _something_ to get out of here. There must be _some _kind of plan or strategy buried inside his head he could still use.

Digging to the source of his problems, he began to strategize.

_Now_, he thought_, If Ichigo had never met Masaya, what would be her reasons not to like me?_

One: He's her enemy.

Two: She thinks of him as a perv.

Three: Well, whether he imagined it to be so or not, Masaya was still in the way.

Summing up his thoughts, he asked himself,

_What if I started over with her as a different person? Would she like me for me? _

As cheesy as that sounded, Kisshu found the phrase "love me for me" perfectly fitting in the situation, and was about to put it to action.

First of all, he would have to get out of the sickening dimension of death, doom, and confinement he was beginning to loathe. Pai was currently at a conference with Deep Blue, undoubtedly requesting more parasites be manufactured after Kisshu's little "Masha incident". But that didn't mean that the teleportation sensors wouldn't be up, and Pai wouldn't be standing in front of him faster than you could say "pocky" if he would happen to hear the alarm.

The only choice Kisshu had was to do what he hoped this wouldn't come to; yet more destruction to their mission was at hand. He hated causing Pai and Tart so much misery, but it couldn't be helped if they were treating him like some kind of dog that you tie a leash on and scold when it's being bad.

He got up from his sitting position on one of the sandy-brown, stone pillars and cracked his neck a bit. He flew over to Pai's main computer system and typed in a password into the keypad, praying he had the correct one.

Bingo. Pai had used his birthday again.

Kisshu tapped a few buttons and opened a few pages before whipping out a Dragon Sword. Looking around him nervously, he turned back to the screen and raised the sword…

He brought it down with a deafening smash. The entire screen lit up in a blazing red, and an alarm not unlike the teleportation one rang in his ears, along with a computerized voice,

"ALL SYSTEMS MELTDOWN. ALL SYSTEMS MELTDOWN." The drone-like voice continued at an extreme volume. Kisshu began to panic. He was NOT expecting that Pai had his computer guard on.

Despite the noise and confusion, he managed to teleport out of the dimension just as he saw a second teleport hole open up across from him. Pai was just moments too late.

Kisshu touched down with a thud on a rooftop in Tokyo. He breathed long, deep breaths, stifling the urge to laugh and scream at the same time. He had just escaped his imprisonment, but think of what Pai will say when he gets back! Kisshu shuddered as the image of Pai's furious face flashed across her mind.

Still glad of his victory, and thankful for the feel of the wind on his face once again, his high spirits were renewed as he advanced farther into his plan,

_Now then, I'll have to borrow some supplies from an earth store. I'm sure they won't miss a product or two, considering it was taken for such a noble cause, too. _

He smirked to himself and teleported down to the downtown Tokyo district.

Ah, it felt good to be outside again.

--

Ichigo was humming to herself cheerfully as she carried a stack of dirt dishes to the kitchen. Not that work and dirty dishes make her happy, it's just that she had a date with Masaya in an hour or so. Ryou held no grudges against her, so she would most likely (knock on wood) be released at regular time, or in about thirty minutes. She kicked open the door to the kitchen with her knee and swept into the kitchen, only to trip over a misplaced stack of dishes on the floor.

"Nyaaaa!" she yelled, flying forward through the kitchen. Her tray of dishes hit the opposite wall, smashing its contents, and the stack of plates she had just tripped over also tipped, resulting in a terrible 'CRASH!'.

This little incident did not go unheard by the customers, the waitresses, or Mr. Ryou Shirogane.

He stormed into the kitchen,

"Baka strawberry! What in Kami's name do you think you're DOING?!" The corners of Ichigo's mouth switched slightly,

"Uh…I'm…"

"That's absolutely right!" he said in a exasperatedly sarcastic tone, "YOU'RE going to clean up this mess, and YOU'RE staying here for an hour after we close to _mop the floors_!" Ichigo stuttered nervously, eyes getting bigger,

"B-but what if I finish before an hour?!" Ryou put his hands behind his head and walked out of the cluttered kitchen, calling over his shoulder,

"Then you'll do it a second time!" Ichigo growled and yelled back,

"I HATE you, Shirogane!"

From her little pile of broken shards of dishes, Ichigo began to mope.

_How in the world am I supposed to meet with Masaya now?! _she asked herself in desperation. She curled herself into a ball, hugging her knees tightly. The last thing she wanted to do right now would be to clean.

Just then, Akasaka Keiichiro came through the door and saw the distressed Ichigo and her pile of dishes. He said calmly,

"Ichigo-san, what happened here?" He offered her his hand and she took it, lifting herself up.

"I tripped over the pile of plates." she indicated where the remaining few plates were stacked, only about three in number. Keiichiro bowed in apology,

"I am so very sorry, Ichigo. This is all my fault, I put the plates there in the first place. I will clean them up for you, how about that?" Ichigo's face lit up,

"Thank you so much, Akasaka-san!" She bowed in thankfulness and rushed out of the kitchen to continue witnessing, leaving Keiichiro to the mess, and smiling after her as she left.

Ichigo cheerfully skipped over to the next table that needed service, and cheerfully sang,

"Welcome to Café Mew Mew! May I take your order?"

"Well, you're cheerful today."

She frowned and opened her eyes to look at the customer, recognizing the voice from somewhere. But…she didn't recognize the teenage boy in front of her in the least.

He had jet-black hair -partly concealed under a black beanie- that came to his chin, and crystal blue eyes. Dressed in casual attire, he was leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head. Ichigo recognized his face from somewhere, but she couldn't place where…

"Do I know you?" she asked curiously. The boy raised an eyebrow and smirked,

"Actually, I think you do. Now, are you ready to take my order or not?" Ichigo straightened up and her face tinted a light red,

"Y-yeah! Our special today is the strawberry parfait with whip-"

"I'll take that." he replied casually interrupting Ichigo. She tilted her face to the side, studying him intently,

"Seriously, where do I know you from? Do you go to the same school as me or not?" The boy just gave her an equally curious glare,

"Weren't you ever told not to stare? Now, may I have my order sometime today?" Ichigo nodded shortly, turning on her heel,

"Alright, then! Right away!" With that, she marched off in the direction of the kitchen, shooting the boy a curious look over her shoulder as she went.

One she got to the kitchen, she slipped into the back room, where Retasu was getting her things together to leave. She whispered to her,

"Retasu, before you change, could you investigate something for me?" Retasu blinked,

"What is it?"

"There's a strange boy in one of the tables that says he knows me, but he won't tell me who he is! I need you to be my private investigator, okay?"

"Private investigator, na do da?!"

Ichigo winced at the high-pitched, excited voice as Purin came bounding up behind her, squealing excitedly,

"Can I be a private investigator, na do da?!" Ichigo sighed and turned to her,

"No, Purin, I think Retasu will handle this one."

Purin's eyes grew big, and she whimpered pitifully,

"But…but…I really want to, na do da!" Small, crystal tears collected on the sides of her eyes as she stared up at Ichigo pitifully. The corner of Ichigo's mouth twitched as she hesitated,

"Uh…" Retasu stuttered nervously, adjusting her glasses while she tried to forge an excuse to get out of the job, "W-well, I think Purin-chan would d-do a better job than me…I mean, I'm terrible at l-lying…" Purin's face lit up,

"Pretty please, na do da!" Ichigo sighed in defeat, massaging the bridge of her nose wearily,

"Alright…" Purin cheered,

"Yatta, na do da! I'll go right away!" With that, she grabbed a nearby tray and headed to the kitchen to collect the strawberry parfait from the counter. As she watched her, Ichigo raised an eyebrow,

"How did she know what he ordered?" Retasu smiled a bit,

"Purin has her ways…"

--

Kisshu sat back in his chair in the café, smiling to himself. This was going quite perfectly. He was trying to accomplish the tricky task of sitting on the border between "random stalker" and "mysterious hot boy". At the same time, he had to keep everyone around him in the dark about his identity, at least until the right moment. He was trying to make Ichigo curious enough about him, though, and right now, he was succeeding.

--

Full of spunk and determination, Purin dashed over to the table with the mystery boy and set the parfait before him.

"Enjoy, na do da!" The boy looked at her, smirking a bit,

"Everybody here is rather cheerful today, ne?" Purin blinked,

"Wow, Ichigo-oniichan was right, you do sound familiar." The boy stared at her blankly for a few minutes before his face broke out in a grin,

"Am I really that recognizable? Too bad, I thought this disguise would work." Purin put on her detective face as she made a mental note of the word "disguise".

After sitting in awkward silence for a few moments, the boy spoke up,

"Do you have paper and a pen?" Purin nodded,

"Yup, na do da!"

Seemingly out of nowhere, she pulled out a small notepad and a pen. The boy eyed her strangely before taking them. He picked up the pen and prepared to write. Before he did, though, he remembered the past incident with his handwriting, and thought,

_Think neat. I can't make this look my regular handwriting._

He made his characters in neat, clean strokes, taking a while on each character. Purin, in the meanwhile, was hovering over him, curiously prodding at him or his clothes every once in a while. She was about to pull off his beanie, but he stopped her,

"Don't touch me, please," he said, pulling his hat securely over his head. Purin made another mental note about resistance to having his hat removed.

_Very suspicious indeed, na do da…_

Finally, when he was done, he ripped out the page and folded it twice, neatly. He handed it to Purin,

"Would you mind giving this to Ichigo?" Purin nodded excitedly,

"Yup, sure I will, na do da!"

"No peeking." he added. Purin nodded, looking a bit guilty, like that was exactly her plan to do. The boy pulled out a ¥1000 bill from his pocket and handed it to her,

"That should cover it, ne? Keep the change." He waved in goodbye and took his parfait with him, walking out the pink door. Purin immediately rushed to the back room of the Café,

"Ichigo-san! I've got some big clues, na do da!" Ichigo turned from her conversing with Retasu,

"Really? What happened?" Purin bounced up and down excitedly,

"Okay, so I figured out that the guy's wearing a disguise, and that he doesn't want anyone taking off his hat." Ichigo sweat dropped, sighing,

"Purin, the disguise I could figure out on my own, but no one would want their hat taken off-"

"And he gave me this note to give to you!" Purin interrupted, thrusting the paper at Ichigo. She took it gingerly and opened it, Purin and Retasu reading over her shoulders. It read,

_Ichigo,_

_By now I'm sure you're curious as to who I am. I'm not telling you who I am, though, neither am I telling Purin. I will give you a chance to guess, though, once every day for the next three days. _

_I have already left plenty of hints with you and your friend. If you don't guess by the time three days is up, I will tell you in private after your shift on the third day; if that should happen, I will tell you where to meet._

_Good luck,_

_?_

Ichigo looked up from the paper, sending a blank stare to the wall on the opposite wall from her, trying to solve the riddle.

Okay, for one, he knew her and Purin's name, although neither had introduced themselves. He also knew that Purin and her both worked here and were good friends. That narrowed it down quite a bit from her automatic conclusion of "random guy from school".

Maybe Purin's thing with his hat was significant after all; did he have a bald spot or something?

Okay, scratch that, that piece of information helped none.

He admitted he had on a disguise, too. That proves that he's going through quite a bit of effort to make Ichigo guess who he was. For what purpose she didn't know. Why was he messing with her in the first place? Ichigo had no idea.

Turning back to possible people, she thought,

_Okay, so he knows Purin and I, and also where we work. That's the best clue we have right now, I'd say. _

Just then, she snapped out of her thoughts when Ryou called to them,

"Shift's over! We're closing up. Ichigo, you're staying behind." Ichigo was about to make a nasty retort when something dawned on her,

_Ryou wasn't there the entire time the strange boy was. He could have easily changed in and out of his costume and makeup in the time space he was given. He's also wealthy enough to afford all of that stuff, too!_

But that still doesn't solve the question as to why he would be making Ichigo play the "three-day guessing game".

Nevertheless, it was the best lead she had. She was anticipating tomorrow, when she would be able to confront the mystery boy once again.

--

Once having escaped the "overly-pink-so-it's-not-even-cute-anymore-pink" café, Kisshu teleported discreetly to a nearby tree and sat down wearily, handing his legs over the edge and putting his head up to rest on the trunk.

_That went perfectly_, he thought to himself, smirking at his success, _That went even better than the painting. Now, if I can keep these contacts in for much longer, this might actually work._

He blinked several times and realized how much the things actually itched. He lifted a finger to his eye to take the first out, but accidentally prodded his eye instead. He inhaled sharply and retracted his finger, blinking his right eye several times. He saw, when he recovered, that he had dropped his contact. He drifted down from the branch and picked up the clear object once he found it after a few moments of searching. He looked up to see a person on the sidewalk, on their way out from Café Mew Mew, giving him a perplexed look. Kisshu immediately realized he had one eye a crystal blue, the other an unnatural gold; plus, he had just drifted down from a tree.

_I've got to be a little better about keeping my disguise…_ he thought. He grinned sheepishly and teleported from the spot, leaving the lone spectator with their jaw slightly open, gaping at the spot where he was.

--

Pai and Taruto were both seated on stone pillars in their dimension, each opposite from each other. Pai was discussing Kisshu's escape,

"He destroyed the computer systems and caused a meltdown, then left. I do not know what drove him to do it. I thought I had convinced him with the speech I gave two weeks ago after the parasite incident." Taruto nodded,

"He's been sulking around ever since. Maybe he just snapped?" Pai sighed wearily,

"I think you might be right. Whatever the case, it would be best if we could bring him back here as soon as possible, then I will straighten out matters once and for all." Taruto stood up and said,

"What are we waiting for, then? Let's get going!" Pai stood up also, and they both teleported to earth to begin their search for their "misguided" companion.

--

_Day 1._

--

Ichigo was excited for her job.

Wait…what was that?

Did I just say she was excited for her job?

As strange as it sounded, she was, for today she would reveal the mystery boy to be Ryou! She had thought over her conclusion the previous night, and confirmed that it MUST be Ryou; who else matched the clues?

So, when the café opened, she was in much the cheerful mood. As she served customers, she would constantly shoot suspicious glares at Ryou if he happened to walk past, which was fairly rarely. Every once in a while, though, she would pop in on Akasaka and ask him about Ryou's location. Every time, he would reply something close to,

"Probably in his office; I don't know for sure." After which response, Ichigo would nod, thank him anyways, and return to her duties.

Finally, when she came to a table with a customer's order, she saw him waiting patiently at one of the tables. He was relaxing by tipping back in his chair, with his hands behind his head, like he was the day previous. He was also wearing the exact same black beanie, but a normal clothes change. Ichigo smiled mischievously and strode over to the table. The boy looked up at her and smirked,

"Hello, Ichigo-san. Do you have a guess yet?" Ichigo slammed her hand on the table for a dramatic effect, getting close to his face to make an impact,

"You're Ryou Shirogane!"

The boy backed up a bit and snickered, trying to suppress his laugh. Ichigo's face fell as he continued,

"Nope, wrong answer. I don't have his tan skin, neither am I as tall as he is. Besides, he's right over there." He waved his hand that wasn't behind his head casually to the direction of the kitchen. Ichigo turned to see Ryou just disappear through the kitchen doors. She growled and scowled at her defeat, turning back to the boy. She shot him an angry glare. He straightened up in his chair and waved his hand,

"Hey, hey, don't get angry at me! You'll get another chance tomorrow!" Ichigo rolled her eyes in disappointment and turned away from the table, keeping a low voice,

"Are you actually going to order something?" The boy shrugged,

"No thanks. I've got to get going." He waved a short goodbye before walking out the door. Ichigo stared after him the whole way, curiously wondering why in the world he was messing with her like this. I mean, did he just like to mess with her to make her mad? Was that his sick form of enjoyment?! The more she thought about it, the more mad she got.

But, as she was walking to the next table to pick up their order, she continued thinking about possible suspects.

After taking the customer's orders, she walked back to kitchen with a perplexed look on her face,

_What if he's not a boy?! What if it's one of the Mews in disguise?!_

Conveniently, at that moment, Zakuro came through the door and strutted into the café. All of the customers turned to "oo" and "ahh" at the model who made her entrance, strutting to the back of the café like nobody's business. Ichigo narrowed her eyes,

_It could be Zakuro! She's shorter than Ryou, taller than me, and had almost the same color eyes as the mystery boy!_

But that still didn't answer the question of why he, or she, would be trying to manipulate Ichigo. Whatever reason, the coincidence of Zakuro entering the café minutes after the mysterious boy was pretty significant.

So, Ichigo decided, She was going to guess Zakuro tomorrow.

--

Kisshu sighed and ran his hand through his dyed-black hair. This was getting a bit harder. She seems to be on the right track, she wasn't making random guesses as expected. She guessed a logical answer that could make sense, that is, if it wasn't for minute details that didn't fit into the puzzle.

Immersed in his thoughts as he leaned up against the side of the café, he didn't notice Zakuro walk by. She stopped on the path next to him and stared at him for a few moments. Kisshu looked up at her when he felt her stare boring into him. He bowed his head slightly,

"Zakuro." She replied with a nod,

"Kisshu."

With that, she walked into the door to the café. Kisshu snickered to himself,

_Zakuro, on the other hand, can guess who I am with one look._

--

_Day 2._

--

Ichigo wasn't as confident about her guess today, but she was going to try at it anyway. I mean, she had another guess, right? Plus, she had her reasons why she would guess Zakuro. Blue eyes, about same height, the whole walk-through-the-door thing. She had excuses if she was wrong. But still, there were a lot of reasons why it WOULDN'T be Zakuro.

Like she said, though, it was good enough.

So when Mr. Black-hair-blue-eyes walked casually in the door to Café Mew Mew and sat in the same table he usually did, Ichigo was ready.

She did her usual march over to him and slammed her hand on the table, once again. He just had a calm look on his face as he studied her imploringly. She said fairly loudly,

"You're Zakuro!"

That was all it took for the boy to break out laughing. Ichigo nearly jumped back in surprise; not only because of the sudden outburst, but because the laughter was so…_familiar. _It's ring was sharp, but very lighthearted at the same time. He continued laughing for a several seconds (earning the attention of half of the customers), then dried his eyes wearily and choked,

"You seriously thought I was a WOMAN?" Ichigo, now quite ashamed, bowed her head low and nodded slowly. The boy managed to stifle the rest of his laughs and was now quite serious.

Seeing Ichigo in such an awkward state, he leaned forward in his chair, closer to her face and spoke in a low whisper,

"Do I really look that much like a girl?" Ichigo looked up onto his face, studying his features. She noticed the skin tone and nose from somewhere…but where?

Ignoring her questions, she answered,

"Not really." The boy sighed wistfully, getting even closer to her,

"Good. I was worried that-"

"Oy!"

A call from the other side of the room caught both of their attention. Ryou was standing by the door to the kitchen, eyes fixed on the boy,

"No flirting with the waitresses, please!" Ichigo shot him an angry glare. Ryou arched his neck to get a good look at the boy behind Ichigo. He furrowed his brow in a befuddled face when he saw him. Still eyeing the two, he continued his steady pace into the kitchen and out of sight.

The boy breathed a sigh of relief,

"Well, Shriogane's really tough on you lately, huh?" Ichigo made a mental note that the boy knew Shirogane's name. She rolled her eyes,

"No, he's always been like that."

The boy snickered.

Ichigo scowled,

"How is that funny?" He shrugged and got up form his chair, walking out the door,

"See you tomorrow. Good luck guessing!" Ichigo watched, dazed, as he disappeared out the door, resuming his grin as he went along.

_Alright, _she thought, _So he's not a girl and not Shirogane. He's certainly not Akasaka-san, that's out of the question. So…who? _

"Arg! This is so…_frustrating_!" she muttered to herself.

She then remembered her job.

Plastering on a half-smile, she turned and strutted off to the next table,

"Welcome to Café Mew Mew, what would you care for today? Our special is the Raspberry Tart a la Mode!"

--

Kisshu sighed in relief as he stepped out of the café. He leaned against the back wall of the pink castle and gradually sunk down to a sitting position, back still leaning on the wall. The first thing he did was take off his contacts. He had gotten used to taking them on and off, but they still itched like crazy.

After removing them both and slipping them back in their plastic case in his pocket, he sighed wearily and teleported.

Lately he had been staying in an abandoned room of a vacant motel. The maids never bothered to tend to it due to it never being used, and pure laziness. They never had much of excuse to do so, though, since the locals were all scared of some "ghost" thing that was supposed to haunt room 131.

But Kisshu found it rather comfortable, and there he stayed.

Food was a matter of duck-and-run with most grocery stores, or at least where he couldn't be seen teleporting. Pesky cameras were always all over the place. You could never be too careful.

Despite all of this trouble, he had just one more day left until his plans with Ichigo would come to an end (for now); then he would make some kind of attempt at re-establishing Pai and Taruto's trust with him.

_Speaking of Pai and Taruto_, he thought, _I wonder where they are…?_

He chose to ignore this question when his stomach growling noisily interrupted his train of thought. He sighed and decided the best plan of action for the day would be to shoot for the back kitchens of the local fast food restaurant.

That place was one of the few exceptions to where he could teleport in, knock over some stuff, have some random guy try to punch him in the gut, random guy misses and earns a bloody nose, and he teleports out with his food. Simple, ne?

_I only have to live like some kind of criminal for one more day, _he thought. Thinking his statement over, he smirked to himself, _Of course, __I'm kind of already a criminal, you know, with the whole attacking the planet thing?_

Ah, the irony of an alien on earth.

Suddenly, he felt a ripple of air in front of him. His eyes widened when a figure came into view. Taruto, he recognized. At the same time this was happening, though, the handle to the door to the room rattled as someone was trying to budge the rusty handle. Taruto came into full view, and he did not look happy. Kisshu looked frantically from Taruto, to the door, back to Taruto, and then to the dresser across the room. He made a "shh"-ing motion with his hand and steered him over to the closet, shoving him and himself into it. Taruto, now with clenched teeth, whispered hoarsely,

"_What do you think you're DOING_?!" Kisshu just shushed him and they both looked through the crack in the closet door. Two teenage girls walked through the door, both dressed in tight, summer clothes and designer handbags. Kisshu and Taruto both made a face as the new arrivals spoke in overly-high voices.

"Oh my god, this is going to be so much fun!" the first one squealed, bouncing on the bed. The second came over and flipped off her shoes. They landed against the wall in a thump as she replied,

"Yeah, my daddy got a raise yesterday, so he's paying for all of this!" The other one giggled,

"You know, my daddy could've paid too! I mean, he IS getting me one of those new Mercedes models for my birthday!"

Kisshu looked down at Taruto with one eyebrow raised. Taruto gave him the same inquisitive look. Then a small, impish smile crept up his mouth.

"_May I_?" he whispered. Kisshu grinned and nodded,

"_Be my guest_."

Taruto made no hesitation to move his arm in a strange, flowing motion and raise it up to high above him. Not seconds later a giant root came through the window of the motel with a crash, shattering the glass dramatically. The two teenagers screamed,

"**OH MY GOD!" **

"**Get it OUT!"**

The root continued to creep over the beds and furniture, gradually twisting all around the room and the panicking, squealing girls, who looked not unlike small, caged pigeons. Kisshu was grinning in delight, and Taruto held the same impish smirk as his hand continued to move, commanding the plant's motion.

The door to the room slammed open as a crowd of men in suits, appearing to be the managers of the hotel, stormed in,

"What is going on in-" He was cut off when Taruto made a root twist up his ankles and cause him to stumble and fall. He immediately got off his face and bellowed orders,

"Someone call plant control, animal control, the military…_someone_ call _**someone**_!"

Kisshu, snickering, elbowed Taruto,

"_Take that as our cure to leave_?" Taruto nodded, still grinning. Kisshu held his arm and they both teleported to a nearby park, where they slumped down under a tree. Kisshu looked over at Taruto. Taruto grinned, so did Kisshu. Then, they broke out laughing; laughter filled all of the noise in the park. Kisshu was rubbing his eyes he was laughing so hard, and Taruto was clutching his stomach.

This must have lasted for a minute or two, because, when they both stopped laughing, Taruto was so tired he was taking deep, slow breaths. Kisshu was just sighing heavily every five seconds. He finally spoke,

"Did you see the look on that guy's face?!" Taruto grinned,

"Priceless!"

Immediately when Taruto got a good look at Kisshu, though, he stopped and his face hardened. He narrowed his eyes,

"You tricked me into loosening up, didn't you?!" Kisshu jumped back,

"No, no! Honestly, I didn't plan any of that! That was just you being the mad little genius!" Taruto scowled,

"Who are you calling little?!" Kisshu smirked,

"Why, I'm calling my imaginary friend little!" Taruto snickered,

"Honestly, I can't stay mad at you for long, can I?"

"We're like an old, married couple!" Kisshu exclaimed. Taruto began to laugh again, as Kisshu watched in great amusement. Taruto's laugh was a lot like Kisshu's, except more cheerful. He was the kind of person you want to laugh along with.

"So," Kisshu said, after Taruto had calmed down, "What were you going to say before, then?" Taruto's face stiffened once again, and he said,

"Pai is really, _really_ mad at you leaving and breaking the computers. If he finds you, you're dead meat." Kisshu sighed and closed his eyes,

"Yeah, but what am I supposed to do about it?"

"Apologize," Taruto stated. Kisshu clenched his teeth,

"Give me one more day." Taruto shook his head,

"Kisshu, don't push your luck."

"Too late."

They sat in awkward silence before Kisshu got up,

"If Pai asks, tell him that you saw me flying over some rooftops, but I got away too fast, and that I looked really beat up." Taruto nodded, raising an eyebrow,

"Why 'beat up'?" Kisshu shrugged,

"Pity points." Taruto smirked a bit,

"Got it. See you in a day. I'll meet you right here tomorrow at…"

"Seven o'clock P.M." Kisshu finished. Taruto narrowed his eyes a bit,

"Alright then. See you." Then he teleported, and disappeared from sight. Kisshu sighed in relief.

_Just one more day…_

--

_Day 3._

--

Ichigo sat up from her bed with a jolt.

She had just spent almost the entire night wondering over the mystery boy's identity, and now she was absolutely SURE she had it right!

The mystery boy was _Masaya!_

How could it have been any more obvious? I mean, she really should have made it clear to herself when her heart beat faster every time she studied him, and why he was so familiar. Plus, Masaya's the only other person that would know all of the people of Café Mew Mew! The pieces of the massive jigsaw puzzle were coming together!

But…the last piece didn't fit.

That last piece of the puzzle, the most crucial one to the whole picture, wouldn't fit.

The simple piece was a simple question: _Why_?

Masaya as the answer for the mystery boy situation still didn't solve why in the world he was playing the guessing game with her. She didn't see any reason why Masaya would want to trick her like that.

Despite the still-unsolved riddle, Ichigo concluded that, when she revealed the mystery boy as Masaya, that she would ask him why he did the game in the first place. Knowing Masaya, he probably had a very logical reason.

Ichigo let go of all of her muscles and fell back onto her pillow with a "fumph" of the cushion meeting her head. She instantly fell asleep, fully confident and satisfied with her answer to who the mystery boy…who _Masaya_…was.

--

"Welcome to Café Mew Mew! Our special today is the melon and kiwi gourmet smoothie!" Ichigo said, sounding as cheerful as physically possible. The two girls she was serving exchanged glances and followed Ichigo to an open table, where she seated them. Her eyes, however, were not on the customers, but were scanning the room for Masaya. It was near closing time and he still hadn't made an appearance. Ichigo wondered if he was busy or something; she didn't know. Whatever the reason, it had to be a pretty good excuse for missing out on her final confrontation.

When she thought all hope was lost, five minutes 'till closing time, she saw him walk through the door and nonchalantly seat himself at the same table, like he had been doing for the past three days. Ichigo furrowed her brow when she compared him to her mental image of Masaya. She couldn't fit two and two together quite right; they looked too different.

_Of course,_ she thought, walking up to the table, _I guessed Zakuro, didn't I? _

With that, her confidence rose again as put both hands down on the table and leaned closer to the boy until she was at perfect eye level,

"Here goes my final guess!" The boy raised an eyebrow at the cheerful voice,

_Boy, is she confident about this._

Before he could think over it farther, Ichigo pulled him into a hug,

"I should have guessed sooner, Masaya!"

Ichigo smiled and blushed a bit at the familiar feel bubble up inside her, and the warmth pulsing through her.

_I missed you, Masaya, _she thought.

The boy's eyes widened and he hesitated to return Ichigo's gesture. Ichigo noticed this and pulled back, still keeping her hands firm on his shoulders,

"What's wrong?" she asked curiously. The boy blinked, face tinting red slightly,

"Um…Ichigo?"

"Yes?"

"I'm not Masaya."

That was all it took for Ichigo's jaw to drop and her eyes to widen. She was so sure, _so sure_, it was Masaya. The feeling, the look, the attitude, everything fit…well_, almost _everything.

The boy averted his eyes to his hands fidgeting under the table,

"I'm sorry I'm not who you want me to be." He looked up sadly at Ichigo, who had something between a perplexed and scared look imprinted on her face. She relaxed her muscles on her features slightly and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Okay. It's okay. I'm fine. This is…alright." she muttered to herself, she cracked her eyes a bit and looked at the saddened boy in front of her. She opened her eyes fully and smiled a bit,

"That's okay that you're not Masaya. I'd like to get to know you better, whoever you are." The boy returned her smile and sighed wearily,

"Good. I thought I sensed a rejection coming on there." Ichigo laughed half-heartedly and sighed.

"I'll see you around back after your shift, then I'll tell you who I am." the boy said. Ichigo nodded slowly. She turned to see Ryou motioning that it was time to close. Ichigo nodded to him and walked off to the dressing rooms. Luckily, it wasn't her turn for table cleaning after her shift. As she rounded the corner to the dressing room, she spied, out of the corner of her eye, that the chair the boy was just sitting in was empty.

_That's funny_, she thought to herself, _I thought he was just there a second ago. _

She shrugged and continued on her way to her locker.

--

_That was close, _Kisshu thought to himself as he walked around to the back of the café, _I thought she had me there._

Nevertheless, everything was going smoothly. Ichigo said she wanted to "get to know him better". That was a pretty big step toward victory. The only thing he had to worry about now was how Ichigo would take the shock of his identity.

_Maybe she'll punch me, or transform…maybe she'll faint. Oh Kami, I hope she doesn't faint._

He massaged his forehead with his hand and tried to think positive. Maybe everything would go right. Maybe Ichigo would actually accept him.

_Not likely,_ Kisshu thought. Once a pessimist, always a pessimist.

He stopped his worrying when he saw Ichigo step out of the back door a few yards away…

--

Ichigo hesitated as her hand felt the cold metal of the handle on the back door.

_Whoever it is, _she thought_, I'm going to get to know him better. He seems like he could be…a good friend. _

Right now, she wasn't about to admit submission to the butterflies in her stomach, even though the boy outside wasn't Masaya.

So she turned the knob and stepped out onto the stone pathway encircling the café. She turned to see him waiting patiently a few yards away, leaning up against the building. He was facing the other direction, and seemed to be occupying himself with something on his face.

"Um…" she said, trying to get his attention. She walked forward until she was only about a foot away from his back. He still didn't turn, though, but rested his hand at his side. After a few moments, he spoke,

"Rather then actually telling you my identity, I think you might be able to see it. Please don't do anything….rash." With that he turned slowly, facing her with a nervous look on his face.

Ichigo gasped when she saw his eyes. One of them was crystal blue, but the other…

The other was a beautiful gold. Bright as the setting sun, and deep as the deepest ocean, it sparkled in the light of the sunset.

At that moment, everything fell into place for Ichigo. The look, the voice, the attitude, the feeling…it all fit. She didn't know why she hadn't guessed before. She didn't know why she hadn't even _considered _him to be…

Kisshu.

The mystery boy was Kisshu.

She was still standing stalk-still in front of him with gaping eyes, trying to process the shock of it all. Kisshu was getting rather uncomfortable with the awkward silence. He bit his lip and said meekly,

"Ichigo?"

She snapped to attention immediately. Blinking a couple times, she contemplated,

_What now?_

_Should I slap him? Should I hug him? Should I just walk away? Should I transform? No, that would cause too much commotion. The last thing I want is Shirogane-san to find out about all of this. _

Choosing to disregard all of these options, she stated a simple word,

"Why?"

Kisshu sighed and ran his hand through his hair,

"I thought you might ask that. The answer is that I simply wanted you to recognize me as someone else, someone who you can trust better instead of hating on instinct. I wanted you to see the other side of me." Ichigo lowered her eyes, relaxing her muscles,

"I…I'm sorry, really. I just can't trust you knowing who you really are." She smiled meekly, "You know, I can't trust someone who's trying to destroy my race."

Small tears collected on the sides of her eyes and she turned to hide them, wiping them with her sleeve,

_This is so embarrassing. Why am I crying? I shouldn't be crying! I'm acting like a little kid. _Before she could stop them, broken sobs began to escape her lips. Kisshu scowled and mentally kicked himself,

_Nice going, stupid. You made her cry. _

However, he saw this as an opportunity to play nice guy, so he walked up to her slowly and put an arm around her shoulder. He soon felt her try to shrug it off, though. He frowned and only used the other arm to pull her into an embrace, stroking her red locks soothingly,

"Sh, Ichigo, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you." Ichigo shook her head and whimpered,

"I'm just so confused, that's all." she clung onto his shirt as she spoke, "I'm just not sure how I'm supposed to react." A few silent moments passed between them.

Suddenly, she pushed him back,

"For one, I shouldn't be hugging you." She hesitated, biting her lip, then reached up and slapped him across the face, hard, "Secondly, I should have done that a long time ago." Kisshu massaged the side of his face and held a solemn look as she continued in a quiet voice,

"I've already made up my mind that I like Masaya, not you. You're my enemy, and the very reason why I was turned into a catgirl freak." Kisshu stepped forward, holding Ichigo's face in both of his hands gently. His face the picture of anger,

"Who ever told you you were a freak?! Your cat ears, tail, and attitude are all things that make you, you! They're beautiful, just like…you are." he finished, relaxing his features.

Ichigo stared up at him, slightly dazed. She felt one of Kisshu's hands move slowly downward from her head, tilting her chin upward as he leaned in closer to her face. Ichigo's eyes got wider as she battled with her initial instinct to back off at the impending "danger".

But as she felt the hot breath on her face, and took in his scent, she surrendered to her feelings. She closed her eyes as she felt his lips gently press against hers.

Oh, what sweet surrender it was.

Everything else she felt, the confusion, guilt, the pain…just melted away underneath her. All that mattered in the world, all she was concerned with…was him and herself.

The last piece of the jigsaw puzzle fit. No cramming, no scissors, no adjustments had to be made for the perfect picture of his face to come to her mind.

Soon, however, she felt him break away, releasing her face gently. He looked depressed; guilt was etched all over his face as he spoke,

"I'm so sorry."

Ichigo shook her head, drying her eyes with her sleeve,

"I-it's alright. I think you've cleared up a f-few things for me." Kisshu smiled, smiling lightly,

"Yeah…same here." he reached his arm around her and gave her a small huge before releasing her and turning,

"See you next vicious battle for mankind?"

"I guess." Ichigo said, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Kisshu waved an airy goodbye before he disappeared in a ripple of air. Ichigo took a deep breath and smiled at the place where he left,

_I'll never look at you the same way again._

--

Kisshu braced himself as he teleported back to the dimension that he had previous residence in. Pai was going to do something terrible, he knew it.

Sure enough, when he arrived, Pai stood in front of him, arms folded. A stern look stood out on his face as he stared at Kisshu, looking over his attire with a disgusted face. When he returned his gaze to his one gold eye, one blue, his face softened.

Taking a deep breath, Pai pulled Kisshu into an awkward hug,

Kisshu blinked and raised his eyebrows at the strange gesture, but Pai soon released him, keeping a stern voice,

"You're an idiot." Kisshu nodded,

"I know. Sorry."

"Old habits die hard?"

"Exactly."

"Are you finished?" Pai said, glaring at Kisshu. He nodded,

"Most likely. At least, I won't be destroying the computer systems anymore."

"About that," Pai said, "As a punishment, you're going to have to fix them today. No food until it's done." Kisshu winced at the mention of the heavy chore, but managed to keep a faulty smirk on,

"…right."

Pai handed him a heavy toolbox, of which Kisshu almost dropped because of it's weight. Kisshu rocked back and forth before steadying himself with the big, red box. Pai teleported and Kisshu set the box down, pulling out a spare part.

_Happy ending?_ he thought as he examined the object.

He smirked to himself,

_Close enough._

--

The End.

For real this time.


End file.
